


Never More

by Jerge



Category: South Park
Genre: Canonical Violence and Abuse, Coming of Age, Kenny is a girl, LARPing, Multi, Trans Female Character, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-18 09:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7309462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerge/pseuds/Jerge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Craig and Kenny bond over their mutual love for LARPing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A couple things: I started writing this around 2014 after playing SoT and I absolutely fell in love with Princess Kenny as well as trans Kenny. Some of the chapters were written when i first started and some of the chapters were written recently (2016) so there may be a slight style inconsistency between some of the chapters. I tried replicating my old writing style the best I could haha.

That day she had woken up with a start, whole body burning. She had died the night before, an accident on her friends' part, and wasn’t feeling all too well about it.

The night had been going well, their session really kicking it up a notch. It was Kenny's turn to guide the session's plot and she had decided that she wanted some of her orc-kin back. Cartman didn’t seem too pleased at first – “You can't just bring back a dead race Kenny!” – but after she had explained that they were mortal enemies with the elves (“and humans,” she whispered) he seemed to warm up to it.

Some of the boys who played with them, none of the ones in her immediate friend circle, seemed to be excited for a new race being introduced into the game and were eager to join as her kin, full orc to her half. They served under her, the heir to the orc throne despite being a half-blood.

The plot went with that for most of the part, the inner workings of Kupa Keep working out their characters again, setting things up for Kenny's big plan.

They were going to crash into the elf kingdom and avenge her fallen people. She may have been half elf along with being half orc but there was no friendly blood between her and the elves. She had been birthed as a truce of sorts, a way for the two races to put things behind them.

The elves and the orcs were opposite races, the elves being beautiful and close with nature, the orcs being rough and industrial. The combination of the two made her a mixture that resembled mostly to that of humans. Her ears were subtly pointed (not enough for her to actually pay for a set of elf ears) and her lower canines just a bit more jutting than that of a human (again, not enough to spend her hard earned cash on), but otherwise she was completely human passing.

The raid was going decently, her and her troop of orcs marching through the Broflovski residence to get to the Elf King. They had gotten out into his backyard, where there were already several other teens roleplay fighting, when suddenly a stray arrow flew across the yard and hit Kenny straight in the face, impaling through her eye.

She didn’t die immediately, but she didn’t last very long either. She had time to clench at the arrow, hear Stan and Kyle yell their usual lines at her, before she died with an intense shock.

And then there she was, back in bed, eyes intact and body burning like usual.

She sat up, eyes half-lidded and her mouth held tight in a straight line. It was Monday now, back to school, and she was pissed beyond belief for missing yet another day of LARPing because of an accident. It hadn't been the first time she had died during one of their sessions; an arrow that should have never been fired, a piece of their shoddy construction crushing her, blunt force trauma from a sword, you name it and it's probably happened.

She scratched the back of her head, fingers getting caught up in the tangles in her hair. Because of her “respawn” her hair was relatively clean, if not a bit messy from sleeping. She supposed the one good thing about dying so frequently was that she would always come back relatively clean, maybe a little sticky in some places.

Kenny got out of bed, dragging her nails across her itchy scalp and down her neck. She let out a quiet yawn, smacking her lips, before stepping over to her closet. It wasn’t a day for showering, better leave it for Karen, she thought, rummaging through her closet. She slipped on an a-shirt, something people usually wore for just working out but she insisted on wearing it as a daily sort of shirt, before pulling on a worn out hoodie she had found at the Goodwill in Middle Park. It was her favorite color – orange – and best of all it wasn’t one of Kevin's old sweaters that had beer stains on it.

She really hated inheriting Kevin's clothing. It had a perpetual stain on it from his shitty attitude and his shitty life.

She held no praise for her older brother, a pessimist who developed a taste for Pabst Blue Ribbon early on in his life. She didn’t hate him, but she did hold a small amount of ill-will for him. She wanted to get out of the house as soon as she could, just to... walk out with a bag over her shoulder and Karen's hand in her's and just... leave the McCormick household once and for all.

But that wouldn't happen any time soon, she knew that just as much as her parents knew it. Just as much as Kevin and Karen knew. They were all tied to that shit-hole and there was no getting out.

Kenny pulled on a pair of pants she definitely wore the other day, and maybe the day before that one too, before marching out of her room and into the living room.

Stuart was on the couch, sleeping, drunk, stinking to high hell.

She could hear her mother in the kitchen trying her best to talk to Karen. As she entered the kitchen she could catch a sight of the two McCormick women: Karen's brown hair matted but her face clean, Carol looking older than her true age. Both were sat at the kitchen table, Carol ate plain toast while Karen had a blueberry poptart in her hand, ready to take a bite when she caught sight of her older sister.

Karen's face went from abysmal, her general look these days, to something softer, more cheerful. “Morning Ken,” she greeted and Kenny smiled at her, teeth a gap and a little crooked here and there.

Kevin was nowhere to be seen but it was no skin off her back; he could leave forever, tomorrow, and she wouldn't stress over it at all. One less mouth to feed, one less mouth to spout venom, one less mouth to worry about. It was cruel, Kenny knew, but she couldn’t help but feel that way for the majority of the time.

She grabbed a packet of poptarts and took one of the two out before putting the remaining one back into the box. It was just how they did things in this household, cut things in half; half portion food, half portion water, half portion everything.

She bit into it, looking at the two women before her, “Almost ready for school Karen?” she asked, mouth full of mashed up food.

Karen made a face at her, clearly not too pleased that her older sister still talked with her mouth full past the age of ten. She finished up, grabbing her backpack from where it hung on the back of her chair and nodded. She swallowed and answered with a short “yes” before heading towards the door.

The two sisters walked together to the bus stop.

\-----

She marched into the classroom and dropped her bag onto the ground beside her desk. She smirked as she watched Craig and the others enter the room behind her.

“That was a hell of a session last night,” Clyde said, turning his vision from Craig down to the now seated Kenny, “Kenny, why didn’t you come?”

“Yeah, I know how much you like to play princess,” Bebe said, smiling down at her. She had been tagging behind Clyde and while she didn’t participate in the games as much as Kenny did, she still occasionally joined the roleplay sessions as a druid on Kyle's team.

Kenny's face twisted as she turned away, “Sorry guys, you know what it's like,” she left it vague. She had tried explaining time and time again that she had been there, that she had seen what happened, but it was all in vain. There was no way they could remember her deaths. It was just how things went.

They rolled with it and seated themselves at their assigned desks. Well, they weren't entirely assigned, it was just how the natural progression of things went. They were given seats at the start of the year, but switched around to be seated near their friends, and the seats had just stuck, becoming their permanent residence.

To her right, Craig took a seat. He peered at her with a bored expression, blocking off Clyde's chatter that was aimed at him. “You're coming to the next session right?”

She bulked, “Of course! I didn’t mean to miss the last one you know,”

He shrugged, dark blue eyes disappearing as he blinked, slow. He looked tired, but then again, when didn't Craig Tucker look tired these days. Things were dragging him down lately, she could tell. They didn’t talk about it but she knew that things weren’t all right in that lonely place that was Craig's brain. But she couldn’t do a thing about it, not unless Craig wanted to.

He was one of her closer friends too, though it was hard to see him as one sometimes. Craig kept most of himself to himself, unlike Kenny who was always vocal and ready to share about her life and experiences. He was shut off, a lot more than he was the year before and the year before that. It was like, as they grew older, the tighter the stitches on his lips became. In fact, the only times where she even seen him laugh and smile, and she meant genuine ones, were during their roleplay sessions on the weekends.

She would worry if she had the time to worry. But, she knew that Craig had a decent amount of friends to support him, giving Kenny a little breathing room.

To her left sat Stan, her last true contact to the old group. He was the everyman of the school, just like Token, a guy who got along with everyone no matter their clique. He was doing relatively well grade-wise, an all-star in a school obsessed with sports. He was the best member on the football team, a step above Doug “Dogpoo” Petuski who had cleaned up a lot since a kid and had become one of the more popular kids in the school.

Stan smiled at her when he noticed her gaze fall upon him.

He had grown up fast, like a weed, shooting up in height. He had a strong face too, handsome even. He seemed like a perfect little package but she knew about his heavy drinking on Friday nights, the way his heart bled easily to even the lightest of rejection. He held up a strong face during the day but she knew him since they were babies.

But he, too, had many friends, more than Craig did certainly, and she knew that even if she couldn’t be there for Stan in his moments of weakness, Kyle certainly would be.

Kyle and Stan were still as close of friends as they had been back eight years ago. Kenny was a little jealous, admittedly. Her friendship with Kyle didn't last past middle school, they had drifted quickly and smoothly, especially after her friendship with Craig and his bunch started to grow.

Most of her old friendships had gone that way too; Butters, Cartman, Kyle... they were all just, passing smiles and a wave in the hallway now.

Their teacher stepped into the room and Kenny turned her attention away from Stan and up to him. The teachers in South Park High were a lot different than the ones in their elementary school. Mr. Garrison was still working at the elementary school, as wild as that was, and she could vividly remember her sister going through his classes, learning his strange, twisted version of an education. That took a lot of unlearning for her and the others.

The teacher took his sweet time writing down “SAT” on the board, explaining in his slow drawl that the SATs were coming up and that they would have to study rigorously for them.

Kenny didn’t like to think about tests in general, let alone one that would have such a heavy standing for further education. She wasn’t even entirely sure if she wanted to go to college to begin with, and here was this big test to see how smart she was compared to the rest of the United States. To see what percentile she was in.

It made her sick.

Kenny was in no means a dull child. She could write elegantly and do math pretty okay and while science wasn’t her strongest subject she did alright in it. She was no Kyle Broflovski but she could hold her grades up if she wanted to.

She didn't enjoy thinking about the future. It left her feeling uneasy, unsure. She just wanted to get up and run from this town, away from all the shit that has plagued their lives. Away from the shit that plagued her life. The immortality, the pain, the poverty, she wanted it all gone.

But instead here she was, sitting in class learning vocabulary for a test that will determine how smart she is in the moment.

And then there was the fee for taking this test that barely anyone talked about.

She didn’t want to take it. Maybe she wouldn't. She wasn't sure yet.

Craig tapped her on the shoulder and Kenny looked up from the piece of paper before her and towards him. He passed her another piece of paper.

Kenny peered at it before looking back at him with a questioning look. On it was a crude little drawing of two cartoon figures, one with a dress and the other with a scarf. It took her a second before she realized it was supposed to be their roleplay characters.

The two figures were holding hands.

She continued to give him a questioning look. She was sure he was asking her out but he finally whispered to her, “Want to establish a new plot in the game?”

Her eyebrows popped up with interest and she looked down at the paper again. He was implying that they get together in the game. She was always shaky when it came to committed relationships with people, a lot of time it just led to both parties feeling like shit. But Princess Kenny was different than Kenny McCormick. She was a half-orc, half-elf with a perchance for bows and most definitely not immortal.

“I've heard by carrier pigeon that there's a looming threat from the North making their way to us,” he said mysteriously, face turned down so that his hair covered his eyes.

“What sort of threat, Feldspar?” It was funny how easy it was to slip into character. This wasn’t the first time the two of them roleplayed in school, Craig was notorious for it. Sometimes she wondered why he did it so much, even when they had a time every week to play as much as they wanted.

“Elves. Wood Elves.” He whispered, looking back and forth as if to check no one was eavesdropping on them. People were but they had grown so accustomed to Craig going into character that they thought nothing of it now.

“Wood Elves..?”

“Tucker, McCormick, please be quiet,” the teacher reminded, looking at the duo with narrowed eyes. He turned back to the board where he continued to write down and explain each word.

He ignored him, looking at her gravely, “Elves from the North. I've caught wind that they're cannibals...”

Her eyebrows jumped again, “Cannibals.” She stated, she blinked and squinted at him, ready to break character, “And us getting together would..?”

He raised his hand to shush her, “We do not have a lot of time left, Princess,”

Kenny was about to respond but she was suddenly aware of how quiet the room had become. She gulped and looked up, the teacher standing in front of her, looking disapprovingly.

“Tucker, McCormick, go to the Principal's Office immediately. I won't stand for interruptions in my class.

Kenny hid a grin before looking over at the black-haired teen besides her. He had on an expressionless look before he flipped the teacher off and stood, leaving the room. Kenny followed after him, laughing when she exited the room.

Craig stopped mid step, turning on the front of his foot to face her. His face seemed even more serious than it was before. “So what do you say Princess,”

She grinned and placed a hand on her chest. She lowered her other one and placed it on his, “Oh, Feldspar, you know how to woo a woman,”

He grinned, a little small smile that was a bit crooked, before they continued on to their way.

\-----

Kenny stood still, listening to the screaming that was coming from her home. She stood in front of the door, staring at the doorknob, before she sighed and placed a hand on it. Stepping in, she was encountered with the sight of her parents arguing.

Nothing new.

However, it did catch her attention that they were fighting about her mom's work. Or rather, how she had lost that work.

She... had lost her job? The only solid source of income in the McCormick household.

A freeze ran through Kenny's body as she stared at them for a long moment before ghosting towards her bedroom.

Her parents ignored her, continuing their yelling fight, throwing insults at each other, talking about how big of a fuck-up each other were.

Kenny felt, very suddenly, drained. She didn't want to sit in a household like this, she didn't want to be around them anymore. Sometimes, as much as she loved her baby sister, she also didn't want to be around Karen too.

She didn't want to be a mom, she just wanted to be Kenny McCormick, the teenager.

When she entered the room she saw Karen there, sitting on Kenny's bed, staring out the window.

Karen had taken up holing herself away in Kenny's room when things got too overwhelming for her. Kenny would always be her security blanket, even after the old ones frayed away, her older sister was always there for her.

Kenny stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making the brown-haired one jump.

“O-Oh Kenny,” she laughed, tugging a piece of her hair back behind her ear. She fidgeted, shrinking into her oversized sweater when the sound of Carol's screaming rocketed through the wafer-thin walls and into her ears.

She sat down next to Karen and placed an arm around her, “So, mom lost her job down at TGI Fridays?”

Karen nodded, her face pulling into a stoic mask. She had been putting on a brave face more and more lately, hiding her fear the best she could. Karen had always been a fearful girl, always pulling away from things.

She had been picking up a lot of things from Ruby Tucker as well, a sour attitude towards adults in particular. And while she didn't flip them off to their faces like Ruby did, Kenny would sometimes catch the now teenage Karen flipping people off behind their back before shrinking away.

The girl always looked miserable lately as well. She felt miserable too, from what she's told Kenny and what she could infer. It was a common theme in the McCormick residence; misery.

Everyone was miserable in there, locked away in their own trash and hardships.

Kenny hated it. She hated what it was turning her sister into. Turning her from a sweet young girl with hope in her eyes to someone who... just shut off from everyone.

Everyone but Kenny. And even then, things were not as they were before.

Kenny had dropped the Mysterion act once the outfit was too small to wear. Karen still didn't know it had been her all along too. Perhaps that was what caused the switch in her. The loss of her guardian angel may have broken the hope inside of her.

The blonde pushed the thought out of her head and hugged Karen, taking her small form into her arms and cradling the smaller one.

“It's gonna be alright Karen,” she didn't know. It was hard to find work in a small town where everyone had already found their place. Their mother might have to start searching outside the town, into the adjacent ones or even out towards Denver.

There was always the possibility of their father finding a job sometime soon but he had issues moving from the couch, issues with taking the beer out of his hand. He functioned enough to leave the house every now and then but he often times was either found drunk near Skeeter's bar or asleep by the mini storage.

Their mom had always been the more responsible of the two, having enough will inside of her to sustain a job, even with the drug use and drinking at home. She never brought it to work, or Kenny assumed so.

From the sounds of the fighting, their mom had fucked up big time at TGI Fridays though what it was had not been mentioned when Kenny was around. She could only assume they had caught her smoking pot while on break or perhaps she had injured a customer while busing the dishes back to the back of the kitchen.

She didn't know.

All Kenny knew was that there was no income now.

Someone would have to get a job. And perhaps that person had to be her...

\-----

The weekend rolled around and Kenny woke up feeling light and excited, ready to don her gown and crown and fight some elves.

Tweek picked them up in his car, how Tweek had managed to pass his driving test and continue to drive with his level of anxiety amazed her, but he did a fair job driving and was always eager to help a friend out.

She stepped into the car, making sure the bottom of her dress was tucked neatly between her ankles before closing the door, not wanting it to get stuck.

Tweek wasn’t in his outfit yet but she didn’t blame him. It was starting to get colder out and Tweek had chosen a class that... wore very little clothing. She was always amazed that the blonde didn't freeze to death while they were LARPing.

Tweek was a man of many surprises.

They made it to Cartman's place in no-time, welcoming themselves into his home without knocking.

Mrs. Cartman smiled down at them from the stairs, eager to see that her boy still had friends. She was a wonderful woman who had the best cooking Kenny had ever experienced (perhaps only second to Chef's.) There were always a lot of rumors of her being “easy” but Kenny had a lot of rumors about her like that too, it didn't make them lesser people to want to be with someone, even if it was just for a night.

Mrs. Cartman followed them into the kitchen and offered Kenny a cookie which the girl eagerly took it, eating away at it. Food stamps had allowed the McCormick household enough food to survive but she would never turn down a free snack.

Tweek went off to the bathroom to change and Kenny stepped out into Cartman's backyard and into the Kingdom of Kupa Keep.

As she finished up her cookie she could feel herself slip back into character, her wig flowing in soft breeze that kissed her face.

Cartman was standing by his throne room, talking adamantly with Scott, who had switched his race from human to orc. His face was painted green, crudely so.

She walked up to them, doing a curtsey.

“Ah! Princess Kenny, good to see you again,” Cartman exclaimed. He pushed Scott aside and stepped up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder pad. “We missed you during our raid into the Elven Kingdom.”

She huffed but didn't push it, “I'm so dearly sorry Grand Wizard. Do explain, how did our raid go?”

“We fought valiantly, of course!” Cartman puffed out his chest, “Me especially.”

She nodded.

“But, the elves still have more troops than we do. Even with the orcs on our side, we couldn't outnumber them. We weren't able to take over the base.”

“A true shame. But we still have hope,” she said, looking out into the base. There were several other teens standing around, talking amongst themselves. She could see Wendy and Tweek chatting off by the side of the house. “They will regret what they had wrought upon my people,” she finally spoke again, still not looking at Cartman for dramatic effect.

Cartman nodded and stamped his staff onto the ground. He had forgotten, it seemed, that the human and the elves both were in alliance and had murdered her people.

It was a part of the plot she was planning in her head.

She would get revenge on both factions before branching out and starting her own with the orcs. She had it planned for a while now and was just waiting, holding her breath for the moment when she was allowed to steer the plot.

Everyone was given their turn, doing quests that helped progress the main person's storyline. Her's was about avenging her people, returning to power.

Lately the boys had been pushing her aside, forgetting that while not the strongest, she was still a skilled marksman.

She didn't know particularly why they had been driving the plot in a way that left her sitting on the throne versus getting into the deep of the fight. She supposed it was because they were starting to take her title as Princess more seriously. But she always imagined herself as a warrior princess, one who led her people into battle with herself at the front.

But the others must have seen her more as a diplomatic princess, one who ruled from the throne.

She was changing that, slowly, surely.

Now, if only she could survive another raid without a misfired arrow impaling her through the brain.

Cartman clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention, “Ey! Everyone, gather 'round,”

They did, a small band of humans and orcs all circled around the grand wizard leader.

“A carrier pigeon just arrived,” he said mysteriously, “Apparently there is a new enemy on their way,”

Kenny turned to look at the surrounding faces, some shocked while some were stoic, probably already having seen the tweets or heard of it from someone else.

“What sort of threat are we about to face?” an orc pitched in.

Cartman turned to look at the sky, his face serious, eyes squinted. He finally turned back to them, his grip tightening on his staff. “Wood Elves.”

The orc from earlier mouthed it, looking confused.

“The High Jew Elf rules over the Drow Elves. These Wood Elves are far more dangerous. They come from the North,”

She ignored him, already having heard the story from Craig. Elves from the North who prayed on other sentient creatures for nourishment. She didn't know what to make of it. She was sure that by “the North” they meant the guys from up in North Park. Why they wanted to play with them was something that eluded her.

It did, however, remind her of the conversation her and Craig had, about him proposing their characters get together. It sounded fun, certainly, but she wasn't entirely sure why he had thought of it.

Was it his way of flirting?

She noticed that Tucker wasn't around for this speech, probably inside the throne room or hiding in the trees like the true thief he was. He really got into his roleplaying and she wondered if this was his way of asking her out.

She hadn't really thought too much about dating Craig. She hadn't even really thought about doing much of anything with him other than what friends would normally do. She didn't think about her close friends in a naughty sort of way, not like she did with mutual friends and people she saw in her skin mags.

Kenny also didn't have the best history with dating. Tammy was something but as she had gotten older, she had started to feel pretty bad about wanting to date her solely for sexual gratification. That was a weird time for her.

She didn't know. She was going to roll with it though, it sounded fun to have an affair with the kingdom's thief. It would add a little flair of drama and, more importantly, give her an excuse to hang around the thief more.

Craig and her had become friends somewhere in middle school. She couldn't even remember what made them start talking or hanging out. It just sort of happened. But after that, they had become pretty damn good friends.

Craig was always a little distant from people but he really started to shine once you cracked through Craig's icy surface. He was a different kind of guy in private, talking adamantly about Red Racer and the roleplays he did with people online.

She found it fun and they had even started a little Skype roleplay of their own. It hadn't gotten too far due to the fact that Kenny's internet wasn't always being paid for and thus not always around, but it was fun when she could.

Craig was a pretty cool dude in her opinion and she had been wanting to do more with his character in their LARPing sessions, not just go into battle with him.

Maybe that was why he had asked for it, because he knew Kenny and what she wanted out of her roleplay.

“This upcoming threat is what made us decide...” her ears perked as they picked this up and she turned back to Cartman, noticing that Craig had appeared in the back of the crowd, face half hidden by his scarf.

“We have decided to unite the kingdoms.” Cartman made a motion and Kyle, followed in tow by Stan, stepped out of the throne room.

Kenny made a shocked face, “Uniting?” She looked at Cartman with a sour look, “Hey, it's my turn for a plot and we can't just unite out of nowhere Cartman!”

Cartman's face turned a bit red, “We have a much bigger threat Princess Kenny!” he scolded.

She felt a fire burn inside her chest and before she could speak Cartman continued on.

“And we proposed that a truce could be reached by wedding the Princess and the High Jew Elf.”

“What?” Kenny's face was red, “You can't just decide what to do with my character Cartman!” she shot a quick look at Craig who hadn't changed expression. She wondered how he was feeling about this. She would have to ask him later.

Now, however, she was pissed. There went her plans of betraying the humans and starting up her own orc army. It would have pissed the hell out of Cartman, an ever present goal, and it would have made things a bit easier to control for her. They were all fighting for leadership in the plot, to be honest, and she just wanted to lead some people for once instead of standing in Cartman's shadow.

He would never allow her to rule. She should have seen this coming.

“This isn't for a princess to decide anyway,” Cartman ruled over her, patting his fat stomach, “It's an arranged marriage, the bride has no say in it,”

“And if I refuse?” She countered.

Cartman huffed, “You can't just refuse.”

“Oh yeah? And why not?” She argued.

“'Cause we'll just kick you out okay Kenny?” He shouted and she balked, scowling at him.

“I'm not happy about this Grand Wizard,” she looked back at Craig, surprised to see him gone. After a pregnant pause, no one talking, she finally looked at Cartman again, “But I will do anything for the Kingdom.”

“Good, good,” he clapped his hands, “Then it's decided! The princess shall be wed to unite the kingdoms!”

People started to clap, a subtle clap that didn’t share the wizard's enthusiasm.

She deflated and stepped up to Kyle's open side, looking up at him before turning back to her people. She opened up her arms to them, “We shall put our differences aside my fellow orcs and welcome the drow elves into our kingdom!”

The orcs knelt before them, accepting their princess' command.

She wanted to talk to Craig about this turn in events but he was nowhere to be seen. She hoped he hadn't left upset. She would have to find him after they had disbanded and made sure he was okay. Otherwise, she would just assume he had left to be mysterious, something not uncommon.

Cartman finished the meeting, ushering over Chris Donnelly, Kyle's second in command, and they started to talk strategy.

They were now shifting the plot over to defend against the upcoming raid from the wood elves. It held priority, the marriage being postponed for later.

Kenny turned to Kyle as Stan went off to chat with Jimmy. “I can't believe you agreed to this.”

The redhead shrugged, adjusting his branch crown. “You know how Cartman is, once he gets a plot idea he'll never let it go. Plus, I don’t know...” he trailed off, looking over at Stan before looking back at her, “It might bring some fun drama,”

She looked at him unamused but nodded despite that, “It... certainly will,”

Kenny was about to continue, tell Kyle of her and Craig's arrangement, but she was silenced by a hand being placed on her shoulder. She turned and was startled to find Craig staring at her, looking unchanged from earlier.

“I must speak with the princess,” he said, turning his gaze slowly to Kyle.

“Of course,” he nodded, hesitating before turning away and stepping over to Stan's side.

“Follow me, Princess,” Feldspar lead her into the throne room where they could talk in private. Once they had finally settled inside Craig's face became animated. He smiled wide and held onto her arms.

“This is perfect!” He said eagerly.

“Oh?” Kenny gave him an upturned eyebrow, confused.

“The arranged marriage. It's perfect for us,” he said, his voice was as nasally as ever. However, the still tone he usually spoke with was gone, his voice low but excited. She hadn't seen him this excited in a long time.

“Do you want to break off our plot or..?”

“No, no.” Craig took his hands off of her arms and stepped back. He crossed them instead and continued, “See, this gives you some plot depth. You are arranged to marry the High Elf but you're in love with the petty thief instead. It's pretty great isn't it?”

She made a small “o” with her mouth before smiling, “Yeah, you're right, that does sound pretty great!” Kenny laughed, “And here I was worried you were upset.”

Craig made a small noise and stepped back, face falling back into its neutral state. He glanced at the doorway where Cartman was now walking through.

The larger boy, both in width and height, paused, looking at the two of them suspiciously, before taking a seat at his throne.

Stan followed in tow, looking seriously at Craig, scolding almost, before softening when he caught sight of the princess.

Feldspar turned to leave, exiting the tent without another word.

Cartman sucked on his lower lip, making a gross sound, before smiling at her. “Princess Kenny,”

She turned to him, placing her hands on her hips. She was still angry at him, even if things were starting to get a little bit more exciting on her end. She did not like them taking away her plot advantage but she would deal, just like how she dealt with every other shitty thing that came her way in life. “Yes Grand Wizard?”

“You’re not planning anything with the thief… are you?” He gave her a look.

She smiled, “Of course I’m not.”

She could tell he wasn't convinced. He had that look in his eye and she had the feeling this wouldn't be the last time he brought the subject up. If things didn't go his way, he would throw a fit, and he was possessive over his plots. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who invited the North Park kids to play with them. Someone must have, after all.

Kenny ignored him though, shrugging and leaving the room. She went to speak with Donnelly. Today was a day focused on relationship building and she was going to establish as many relationships with the elves as she could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenny goes to a party and plans are made.

Kenny bit down hard, her teeth creaking against each other. She was standing in the doorway of her home, like she did every day, but there was something off about her disjointed family that day. There was a disgusting, skunky smell wafting through to the front door and as she stepped inside and into the living room, she could clearly see both her parents sitting on the couch smoking together.

She had worked so damn hard to make them quit the stuff and there they were, smoking it again, right in front of the kids. She was outraged, more than outraged, she was livid.

Kenny stomped forward, moving to stand in front of the television. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the giggling duo.

Her dad was the first to notice and the grin on his face lowered, “Hey, we were watching that,” there was a slight slur under his tone and she knew that they had been drinking as well.

“I can’t believe you two!” She seethed, not wanting to raise her voice. It was very rare for her to get into yelling matching with her parents, that was generally left to Kevin and the two of them to duke it out, to throw harsh words at each other and sometimes throw fists as well.

But right at that moment she felt like screaming.

The moment things don't go their way and the two of them resort back to drugs, she couldn’t stand it.

“You’re both… I just..!” Kenny huffed, “I can’t believe you two, doing this shit again,”

“What do you mean by that?” Stuart countered, sitting upright.

Kenny hesitated, staring down at them, before rolling her eyes and wandering off. “Nevermind, I didn't say anything,”

She went into her sparse bedroom and sat down at her bed. She flopped over and stared at the ceiling.

She had gotten used to this sort of shit in the past, allowed it to play out before her without question. And then, one day, she had snapped and decided that Mysterion had to step in, had to take bring in end to their irresponsible behavior. But the appeal of playing hero faded quickly and after she had started exploring the possibility of being a girl, when their days of playing super hero started to fade, as the costumes got smaller and smaller, so too did her ambition to continue the role of Mysterion.

He had done his job well, she thought. He had helped the police with the petty crimes that were committed in South Park, where things were generally safe if they didn’t involve the supernatural. He had stopped Stuart and Carol from continuing their downward spiral. Carol had gotten a job, was taking the extra effort to get into her children’s lives. Stuart had even stopped drinking around this golden era, taking a break from the can and actually doing things besides sleep, drink, or watch television.

Then things started to slip. Stuart would go back to drinking, drinking, drinking, more and more before he was back where he started. She had let it pass because the yelling was still away and Carol was still doing her best to support the family.

But now things were cracking. Carol, out of a job, was going to be their downfall.

Kenny’s body was filled with ice as she turned over, staring at the very edge of the window besides her bed. A small spider’s web was hung in the corner but the spider was nowhere to be seen. Her skin was crawling, thousands of little invisible bugs, all underneath her skin.

She inhaled and exhaled, rolling over once more to face the door.

She supposed it was around that time she picked up a job. It was the only choice she had so far, if her parents’ actions were any indication of an upcoming trend.

Kenny’s chest grew tight just thinking about it. She didn’t want to get a job. She didn’t even want to do homework let alone go out everyday after school and work a job. She wasn’t even entirely sure where they were hiring in South Park. She knew her mom wasn’t going to go job hunting any time soon, expecting food stamps and welfare to carry them over in the meantime.

But Kenny knew things. She knew that you weren’t eligible for food stamps unless you were working and earning a minimum amount of money. She knew welfare wouldn’t be able to cover feeding five people. She knew these things. She knew them better than anyone in the household.

Kevin ignored their poverty, Karen ran from it by hiding away at her friends’ houses. Stuart drank until the thought of poverty was entirely out of his head. And Carol. Kenny didn’t know what her mom was thinking but it certainly wasn’t about their current situation. She supposed Carol pushed it away with drugs.

That left her to worry over things. Make sure the laundry was done. Make sure that they actually used their food stamps to buy food instead of forgetting about it and only having a half carton of spoiled milk in the fridge.

She was getting so tired of it all. She didn’t want to be a mom, she didn’t want to make sure Karen was okay anymore. She was starting to get older, she certainly didn’t want to be coddled anymore. She didn’t want to deal with Kevin anymore, who would constantly steal from her and never apologize for it. She would be okay with him if he’d just admit he did it and own up to it.

And she definitely did not want to take care of her parents anymore. Make sure her dad was still breathing in the morning, make sure her mom was up and ready to catch the carpool.

It was maddening, it drove her up the wall. She didn't want to do it anymore. All she wanted to do was hang out with her friends, play games, go out and roleplay. She didn’t want to live in this world where she had to take care of everyone, where everyone depended on her.

She wanted to stay over at Craig’s place, eat good food with Clyde, watch a movie with Bebe, anything but this. Hell, she would even spend an afternoon shopping with Cartman just to get out of the house.

But instead, she was here. Stuck in her small home that smelled like rotten food and mold. Stuck with her deadbeat parents, her beautiful but growing cold sister, and her awful older brother.

She just wanted to leave.

\-----

Kenny tugged the hood of her coat over her head and pulled down the draw strings tightly. The hood closed around her face, covering her mouth.

She made her way down the streets of South Park, trekking towards Craig’s house.

His parents were away until Thursday and Ruby decided that it was a good idea to hold a little party on a Tuesday night. Ruby was more of the party type than Craig, who often times just spent the entire party sitting in the corner, drinking water, and probably people watching. Sometimes he’d chat with Clyde or Token if they were around, even Kenny when she was up to talking, but the three of them were usually more social during these sort of things.

She stared at the cross street, weary about crossing. There was no traffic at the moment but that didn’t mean anything for a person like her. Death followed her, was obsessed with her.

She swallowed hard and crossed, bracing herself for an oncoming car that wasn’t there. When she made it to the other side she exhaled deeply and continued on her way to Craig’s place.

Kenny didn’t understand why she had this “gift,” the gift of immortality. She thought she had it figured out, a cult dedicated to Cthulhu having done something that cursed her with it, but when she had tried to do some research on it, things went dry, fast. There weren’t many academic books about that sort of thing.

She didn’t even understand why she would be given immortality to begin with. Wasn’t that a sort of goal for the person seeking it? What was the purpose of giving it to someone else? Was she a part of a bigger plan that had yet to reveal itself?

It all made her head spin. She didn’t like it, how fate was playing out for her. She didn’t want to be a part of these big schemes. Sure, she had plans for a roleplay but something in real life? She didn’t want any of that.

That’s partially why her and Cartman had never really worked out. Not counting his disrespect for her, he was constantly scheming and planning things for other people, always with the end goal being a gain for him. It was maddening.

She took her hands out of her pockets as she stepped up the steps to Craig’s door. She knocked and it took no time for Ruby to eagerly answer the door.

Her face fell as she saw it was Kenny and not one of her own friends but she accepted her inside anyway. “Craig’s in his room,” she mentioned as a second thought, wandering her way back to the couch where Karen and a couple of their friends were sitting.

She didn’t know how to feel about Karen being there already but she knew she was in good hands around Ruby. The younger Tucker didn’t take shit from anyone, much like how the older Craig used to.

Though, the new Craig was much better at letting things slide off his back. Or so it seemed to her. She didn’t know. It was hard to read the teen when he was closed off.

Kenny pulled her hood down, exhaling and running a hand through her hair. It had gotten longer than how she used to wear it but it was nowhere as long as Wendy’s hair had gotten. It was haphazardly chopped at, edges uneven and some sections longer than others. She didn’t care enough about her hair to really bother with it, just trimming it up when it started to get too wild. It was at a manageable and slightly long pixie cut length, though recently she had been thinking about cutting it back to a “boy” cut.

The only issue with that was while it was easier to handle she was worried that people would see her less as a girl and more as a boy. Everyone had been so open about her that she didn’t worry about it too often but sometimes… sometimes she wondered if she had to present more girly to fall into the girl title.

She wasn’t going to let it worry her too badly. She was at a party to have fun, to forget all her worries, and she was going to have a good time.

Kenny smiled at Ike as she passed him, the younger boy fitting in like a glove despite the age gap between him and the others being so wide. She marched up the stairs and headed towards Craig’s room, wanting to check on the dark-haired one before she really got into the party.

His door was closed and she knocked, shifting her weight from one leg to the other as she waited. Finally he opened the door and blinked at her. “Hey Kenny,” he let her in.

She smiled and followed him inside, closing the door behind her. “I heard Ruby was holding a party and decided to come check it out,” she took a seat at his desk and placed her hands on her knees, turning to face him again.

“Yeah,” he sighed, sitting down at his bed. He flopped over, sprawling out. “She does like to party…”

Kenny half-smiled, scratching the back of her head, “Are you gonna come down and join?” she asked after a long pause.

He shrugged, “Probably not. It’s her party, I don't think she wants me around near her friends.”

“Gonna stay holed up here and watch your Red Racer reruns,”

Craig sat up suddenly, “As a matter of fact, I was thinking about continuing my Red Racer roleplay.”

She leaned forward, smirking, “This is news to me, Tucker, who are you roleplaying this time?”

“Racer Zed of course,” Craig was smiling now, “My favorite character,”

Kenny laughed lightly, “Well, you have fun with that. I’m gonna head downstairs and embarrass our sisters. You know where to find me if you want to chill out,” she winked at him before standing up and heading towards the door.

“Have fun,” Craig replied but the fun tone in his voice was no longer there, his attitude slipping back into that quiet reverence.

She closed the door behind her and thought about her dark-haired friend as she walked down the hall and eventually down the stairs.

He had changed so much since middle school. From a kid who lead a group, who got into fights, who laughed openly and sneered at those who tried to bring him down a notch. He went from that to a kid who was quiet during his friends’ bouts of laughter, to a kid who barely focused in class, a kid who didn’t leave the house. In fact, the only thing that hadn’t changed was Craig’s affinity to flipping people off, something that would be a constant for him.

She thought about this constantly, wondering what changed in his life that set this in action. His parents had divorced but decided that it was for the best to continue living together, for the kids’ sake. She didn’t know what it was like to have parents who were divorced but she did know what it was like for parents to fight and she wondered if that's what hardened Ruby and quieted Craig.

Kenny plopped down on the couch, pushing Ruby to the right and her friend to the left, inserting herself into the conversation. She laughed, placing a hand on the strawberry blonde’s shoulder. “So when does this party start kicking in?”

Ruby scowled and swatted Kenny’s hand away, “It’s started, just a bit slowly okay? It’ll really start when Token and his crew get here.” She sounded a little desperate, not too pleased with the turnout. It was still early in the day, admittedly, and Kenny was sure things would pick up soon.

She was pleasantly surprised to hear Token was coming and just as she was about to make a comment about it, Token welcomed himself into the house, his smile just as brilliant as his mind. In his hands were two six-packs of some of that fancy beer, “Dale’s Pale Ale.” It was a silver can with blue borders and red on the inside. It reminded her of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

She wasn’t going to let that stop her from having a good time. She pushed the bad memories aside and stood up, making her way over to Token.

He had made his way into the kitchen, setting the beer down. Kenny was on it like a vulture on a dead body, eagerly tugging it out of the plastic ring and cracking it open.

“Thank god you arrived,” she said, taking a long sip of the ale. “Ruby was getting antsy,”

He gave her a slightly judging look at the way she immediately took a beer but smiled at her anyway, “Oh yeah? Well, the others are gonna be here soon. I invited Bebe but you know how she is with parties, never wants to come unless Wendy goes too. I hope she comes though…”

“So there’s me and you. Maybe Bebe and Wendy… do you know who else is coming? Craig’s gonna stick to his room I think. I wonder if Stan will come.” She knew how beer attracted the teen. He was generally pretty straight of a guy when it came to drugs and that sort of stuff and he didn’t even drink that much… but when he did he really went for it, taking the bottle hard until he was a wobbling mess of a boy who would throw up every now and then until his red-headed best friend had to take him home.

And wherever Stan went, Kyle went as well. And wherever Kyle went you could probably find Cartman and Butters tagging along too. Cartman was still absolutely obsessed with the redhead, to the point where Kyle had officially asked the school not the place him in the same classes with the larger boy.

Things had started to settle down between them for the most part, Cartman sticking to his only true friend, Butters. He had started taking classes at the local college up in North Park, something along the lines of entry position program for high school students who wanted to get into the police force.

She didn’t trust Cartman or his want to be a cop but he had gotten a bit better of a person after his time there and he was definitely getting a bit more fit. Still large but you could see the muscle definition. He seemed to be taking better care of himself which Kenny believed was the true reason why he had been getting better, personality wise.

So Cartman and Butters may or may not arrive, it all depended on Cartman’s mood, either being he didn’t want to grace them with his presence or he was going to be bent on getting everyone’s attention on him by crashing the party. She hoped it was the earlier option.

With Token there Clyde was sure to come soon. And with Clyde would probably be Jimmy and Tweek.

She took another sip, wondering if the twelve cans would be the only beer there that night. She would have brought some but not only would Kevin have her head, her dad would as well. And she certainly didn’t have the money to pay off one of the homeless people to buy her some. She didn’t even really have enough to buy one even if she was the legal age.

“Hmm, I’m not sure, sorry. I think Clyde is coming though, I sent him a text about it before leaving my place.”

Kenny hummed in response before setting off back towards the living room. She took another sip from her can and sat down in one of the arm chairs opposite the couch.

Ruby was sitting and talking animatedly with Karen and a boy.

Kenny ignored them, staring out the front window. She tapped her foot to the beat of the music, something she didn’t really care for but would dance to it anyway when the right people were there.

She stayed there for quite a while, just swinging her foot back and forth, watching as more middle-school and freshman year kids piled in. She ignored the way Karen hung off one of the boys nearby but did take notice of the way Ruby stayed close to her, making sure she was alright. One of the kids brought in some more beers, probably stolen from their parents’ fridge and the drunkenness level at the party started to escalate.

Kenny was about to get up and head over to Craig’s room again but Clyde and the others (Tweek and Jimmy, followed soon by Dougie) entered the small house, filing through with smiles and a few packs of beer in hand.

People cleared through to allow them to walk to the kitchen and Kenny got up, walking into the kitchen once again. Her and Token met at the doorway where they did a little dance together to make way for the other before Kenny pushed on through, Token making his way into the living room.

She stood at the kitchen island, finishing up her first beer before tossing the can by the garbage and reaching for one of Clyde’s. She wasn’t too picky when it came to beer, probably something she had picked up from her parents.

Clyde was quick to swat her hand away but there was a smile on his face, “Hey now, say the magic words.”

She sneered, “May I please steal one of your delicious beers, sir Donovan?”

He stuck his tongue out at her before handing her a tall brown bottle. “Have at it Princess,”

“Thank you,” she twisted open the top and down it, smacking her lips once she was half finished with the bottle. She set it down and looked at the three boys with a grin, “I’m glad you guys arrived, I was getting bored with all these kids around.”

“Y-Y-Yeah, it’s not a re-real party until w-we’re here,” Jimmy said, shifting his arm braces to get into a more comfortable position. He leaned against the counter and took a beer, taking care to twist it open before taking a long drink.

Tweek twitched, looking out into the living room, “W-Why are there so many middle schoolers here, isn’t Ruby a freshman this year?”

She shrugged, looking over at Clyde who had broken into one of the beers himself. He had picked up the last of Token’s beers, sipping at the silver can and looking at the counter with a fixated interest.

“Probably cause she still has friends in middle school, I dunno, it's making me a little uncomfortable though,”

“Agreed,” Token joined them, followed soon by Wendy. Bebe was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh hey!” Clyde looked up, his eyes alight, “I didn’t know you were here!”

Token rolled his eyes, “Yeah I’ve been here for a bit now, Wendy just arrived though,”

She smiled loosely, shrugging lightly, “I thought it was time I leave my place and hang out with people, you know. Get a social life.”

“No Bebe?” Kenny interjected.

“No, she wasn’t feeling well today and couldn’t come,” Wendy informed, looking over at the beer that filled the counter. She turned away from it however and wandered to the open doorway of the kitchen, “Are we gonna stand here and talk or does someone want to dance with me?”

Token hesitated before smiling and following her. He took her hand and they wandered out of Kenny’s line of vision. Those two always had this weird tension between each other, ever since elementary school. She didn’t think too hard on it but it was definitely something that used to worry Stan. Not so much anymore but back in middle school it really drained him.

A lot of things in middle school were awful. It was that weird couple years where everyone was going through puberty but still had the mindset of elementary school kids. There was a lot of drama, especially between Kenny’s old gang of friends, with a lot of fighting.

There were also a couple unplanned pregnancies, the most notable being Red because she had decided to keep the baby. Her parents were furious and there was even an episode on Maury where they tried to find the father. No one did find out who the father was and sometimes Kenny wondered if there was even a father at all or if God had a say in what was going on.

Stranger things have happened in South Park.

With Wendy and Token gone it was just her and Jimmy plus Tweek in the kitchen. Clyde had left a little bit ago.

She smiled at them, finishing up her beer before taking another one, twisting the top and placing the cap down on the counter. They drank together, chatting with one another for a little while until Kenny was on her fifth beer.

She placed the half empty can on the counter and blinked at Jimmy. She looked at him and then back at the doorway that lead to the now rocking party. There was a slight wobble in her step.

Kenny walked into the living room, a little unsure on her feet, and her eyes locked onto Clyde. He was dancing alone and she was bent on joining him.

Clyde hadn’t changed much since elementary school. Even with the death of his mother he still stayed a boy who was easily irritated, cried at the drop of a hat, but a very sweet and athletic boy. He hadn’t lost much of his chub either, leaving him to be a bit bulkier than the others in her class but there was a lot of muscle, especially in his thighs and back that honestly made Kenny swoon a little.

She didn’t think about doing that sort of stuff with friends, not very often that is, but things were different with Clyde. He exuded confidence, that is when things were going his way, and she couldn’t deny his attractiveness. The girls, when they had made their list, were not wrong. Clyde was cute.

Kenny slid up to him, allowing her somewhat foggy vision to drop onto Clyde’s figure. She started to dance with him and he just smiled and placed his hands on her hips.

They were both buzzed and before either of them knew it, they were in the corner, Kenny sitting on a side table, making out. That’s generally how things went with her: “and suddenly they were making out.”

It was always sudden and unplanned, just like that time she did it with Annie Nelson. That was a good time, she had the best boobs she had ever seen. They had both ended up in laughs and giggles, it was probably the fondest memory of Kenny’s, at least, related to her sexual adventures.

Then there was Kevin Stoley… Bradley Biggle… there were quite a few, all of them pretty sudden without any sort of premeditation. Kevin had actually happened after a round of LARPing. Around the time when Kenny was still not allowed back into the roleplay after her grand betrayal, she had joined the Star Trek nerds. Her and Kevin had a little plotline about his character having to mate or else he’d die or something like that and it was all fun and games until they had made-out and eventually had sex in his parents bedroom. None of the others knew about it.

As for Bradley. She didn’t know how that started, she just remembered that they were at a party at Stan’s place and she recalled how Bradley was a supernatural being such as she was. And, as things often went with her, one thing led to another and they were in Shelley’s room.

She was not pleased when she had gotten back from her friend’s house to find the two of them chatting, naked, on her bed. Well, not pleased was a bit light, absolutely furious was more like it.

Kenny had actually died that day, the heel of Shelley’s stiletto impaled in her head.

She laughed into Clyde’s lips and pulled away. She wasn’t planning on going any further with Clyde, that much she knew. And she’d be damned if she let things go any further. She didn’t want to have a weird, semi-drunk one night stand with one of her pals. Not this time.

So she slipped past him and gave him a final kiss before excusing herself. She slipped out to the backyard, letting the cool air cut through her hot skin.

Kenny stared up at the sky, looking at the stars. That was one of the perks of living in such a small town, tucked away from the city lights. The stars were bright and you could count them all, unlike the light polluted areas near the city that washed the night sky in a dull red glow, masking away the majority of the stars.

She was about to sit down on the steps when she caught sight of a figure lying down in the grass. She stepped down to them and was surprised to find Craig lying down on a blanket, staring up at the sky.

“Hey there,” she said, flopping down next to him. She was half on the blanket and half on the grass but she didn’t care.

He turned to look at her, looking a little disappointed. “Hey,”

She frowned, the alcohol in her starting to settle and subside, “Something troubling you?”

He was still, before he sighed and looked back at her again, “There is something I must tell you Princess,”

Kenny frowned deeper. Craig going into roleplay mode again made her worried. What was he avoiding?

“Yes, Feldspar?”

“I see that you’ve been fraternizing with the drow elves,” she blinked, confused, before it struck her. Clyde had gone over to Kyle’s faction, not wanting to deal with Cartman once they had allowed the three of them to rejoin the roleplay. He must have seen the two of them kissing on his way out to the backyard. “And I must admit I’ve not been completely loyal to the human’s either…”

Kenny’s face twisted, “What do you mean?”

“I’m a double agent. I’m the one who lead the wood elves to us... On my way up north, on a mission, the wood elves found me and took me into their camp. I was to be eaten but I mentioned the camp of humans from which I came… and they struck a lucrative deal with me, if I feed them information that is. They plan to attack up during our peace treaty at the Forest of Metal.”

The Forest of Metal being the jungle gym in the local playground.

Kenny relaxed a little. She had been expecting him to say something much worse. She didn’t know what, entirely, but she was kind of worried he would have said he was planning on seeing someone. She didn’t like the feeling it gave her, this curious worry over Craig deciding to date again.

“And what does that make of us, has this all been a ploy to get information out of me?” She wasn’t even entirely sure why he was admitting this so early. They hadn’t even met up with the kids from North Park yet.

He sighed, turning onto his side. He took her hand, “No, but what I am trying to say is that… I think you should join me. The wood elves will spare us, their army is too large for us to take down.”

She balked before she finally held his hand as well, looking up at the sky. “Only on one condition,”

She still didn’t face him but the silence made her continue, “As long as my people are spared I will go with the wood elves.” And by her people she meant the orcs. She held very little care towards the humans, Feldspar being the exception. But she had a feeling that he didn’t really connect much with his own people to begin with. This wasn’t the first time he betrayed the group. It wouldn’t be her first time either.

As long as things went smoothly she was sure that the humans would be okay. After all, what fun was it to have a group lose so entirely that they’d have to stop the game? She was sure that some would survive… and then she’d swoop in. Her and her remaining orc army would take over the human faction and she would take over Cartman’s place as LARP ruler.

Cartman was a shit master and rarely gave out XP and honestly, she and others were getting tired of it. After the betrayal and everything was set and done, she would take over and make a much better LARP master, a fair one.

Suddenly, Craig’s face came into view and he stared down at her, “I think I can make that happen. What do you say Princess?” his hand was clammy.

She laughed at him, staring at into his dark eyes. They were as dark and as blue as the “Giant Blue Hole,” a sinkhole under the ocean near Belize. A giant, circular pit in the middle of the ocean, swallowing her in. She was enticed, like a moth drawn to a flame and she was about to stretch her head up, touch their foreheads and stare deep into his vision. Her sight was clearing, the booze burning out of her system. Finally, however, she fought off the urge and smiled at him, replying “Sounds fun.”

He smiled back at her, something very genuine, “Awesome,” he flopped back over onto his back and he turned his eyes back to the sky. They sat there for a long time, staring up at the night sky in silence, their hands still wrapped around each other.

Kenny wasn’t entirely sure what their status was but she did know that she was content.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight and a kiss.

Kenny stuffed her hands into her pockets, making her way towards the South Park mall.

It was chilly out, when was it not, but her coat kept her relatively warm, even if it was growing thin from so much use. She could see the large structure up ahead, remembering how it had been crushed by a UFO so many years ago. It had taken a while to rebuild, to populate with stores, but it was finally in a place where it could be called a mall again.

She was headed over there now to check out the new Panera Bread opening. She hated food service, knew the shit that happened when you worked it, but she could consider herself desperate now. With Carol out of work, there weren’t many options left for the McCormick household. It was get a job or starve.

And Carol certainly wasn’t going to get a job any time soon.

She tried not to think too deeply about the whole starving thing. In fact, she didn’t even want to think or be at the mall at all. At least not right now. There were so many other things she wanted to do; admittedly, most of it were roleplay based.

Kenny thought about the wedding coming up, how her and Kyle were to be wed to join the humans and the elves together. She hated it, hated how Cartman had thrown her into a position like that. He never consulted anyone about the changes in the game, she knew that, but she hadn’t imagined he’d take her down that path so far. That was, especially considering how they had started writing her out of a lot of plots.

She swore, Cartman would never let her initial betrayal go.

After all, it had taken Craig, Clyde and her quite a while to get back into the games to begin with.

After the original fight and betrayal, all of them had broken up, taking a few years from LARPing.

Then, in eighth grade, things changed when Cartman regrouped everyone. At first he tried to convince Stan and Kyle to join the humans but they, obviously, didn’t want anything to do with the bigger boy and kept to their own faction.

Around that time Kenny and Craig were becoming better friends too and wanted to join in on the fun as well. They did originally bond through storytelling and bouncing ideas off one another.

In order to prove themselves to Cartman however, they had to do… a variety of embarrassing tasks to prove themselves to the Kingdom of Kupa Keep. It had gotten to an extreme point where, as Kenny thought about it, she knew that her, Craig, and Clyde would honestly never bring it up to another soul ever again.

In fact, that was why Clyde had gone off and joined the drow elves. He was tired of the way Cartman treated him.

That was mostly why she… really considered what Craig had told her too.

She liked Craig. She really enjoyed his company and she enjoyed his stories and his roleplaying ability. Kenny also knew that she had better LARPing skills than Cartman did, especially in terms of storytelling and team oriented plans. She knew she’d do right by her friends as LARP master.

Kenny stepped into the mall, making a beeline towards the new restaurant.

It was a small store with a tall counter in the front where a thin, attractive woman stood. She had a short, green apron on and smiled at her as she walked in.

Kenny smiled back, putting on her “professional” posture and face as she looked around. She tried to look like she was admiring the store, really taking in the atmosphere of it as she did.

There was some soft music playing and she could see all sorts of breads and treats behind the counter. The store smelled pretty average, though she accounted that to it being so new still, and there were small black boxes on the front counter.

Approaching, Kenny asked the woman for if they were looking to hire. She picked up one of the slim boxes, looking it over as the woman practically bounced off to grab an application. She huffed softly, turning it around in her hands.

Cartman… she would show him a thing or two about roleplaying, that was for sure. He would regret shoving her into details and plans without talking to her about them first. Especially when those things took away more of her freedom. If he thought she was going to sit around and look pretty for him, sit on the throne by Kyle’s side and do absolutely nothing until she eventually got bored and quit, he had another thing coming.

Kenny was one to take things as they were a lot of the time. She was pretty damn casual compared to other people in South Park but if there were two things she wouldn’t stand for, it was Karen being mistreated and people getting in the way of her LARPing.

The woman returned, holding a few sheets of paper in her hands. She handed them to Kenny, smiling at her excitedly. She seemed really pleased to see someone applying and Kenny wondered if she were always naturally perky or if there was something about Kenny that made her so.

Kenny entertained the idea of her scoring it with the nice lady at the counter but didn’t let it sit in her mind for too long. She liked older women but she knew best to stay away.

Taking the papers, she quickly stepped out of the store and headed out towards the front entrance, bearing the full brunt of the Colorado cold once she opened the doors.

\-----

It was a decent walk but she made it back home in no time. Placing the papers down on the side table to be reviewed later, Kenny called out that she was home. Looking around, she found that no one, other than her sister sitting on the couch, were there.

No mumbles from her deadbeat father, no shrieks from her recently unemployed mother. No smashing sounds of her older brother throwing things at the wall. Just her sister sitting on the couch and the sound of Maury playing in the background.

Kenny plopped down next to her, settling in on the bare threads couch and snuggling up close to her younger sister.

Karen hummed softly as she tapped away on her phone. Texting Ruby or one of the boys Kenny saw her with at the party most likely.

She watched the television for a little while, sitting in silence next to her. They didn’t speak for a long moment before Karen put her phone down and turned her head towards her older sister.

Kenny quirked a brow at her.

“How was the job searching?” She asked, looking apathetic. Her eyes were dull, lacking the sheen and liveliness they used to have. Kenny really missed her younger sister, the frightened but alive little girl she used to be. Now she sat here, in front of her in just a small brown sweater with a hole by the left shoulder, looking dead to the world.

She looked a little like Craig.

Kenny tried to ignore it, bear through the pressure of keeping her sister alive in this damn world, even as she saw it suck the life out of her, day by day. “Oh, you know. Okay, I guess.” She twisted her mouth, looking back at the TV. She continued to speak, “I got an application for this place… Panera Bread. The cashier lady there was smokin’. Tall and thin with really beautiful hands.”

Karen glanced back at her phone, drawing Kenny’s attention to it as well. A message showed on the screen. Karen ignored it.

“You know sis, I was thinking of picking up a job as well.” Karen said, pushing her phone between her thin thighs, getting it out of sight.

“You? Get a job?” Kenny couldn’t hold back her astonishment. She twisted her lips even further, “No way. No way! You’re like, sixteen.”

“You’re looking for a job Ken! You’re only eighteen!” She shot back, pursing her lips.

“Look Karen, I don’t even want this job but you.” Kenny looked harder at the TV, really taking in the looks of the man on the screen. She tried to count how many dreads he had before giving up and looking back at Karen. “You’re still a kid, I don’t want my kid sister to have to work through high school. Fucking high school!”

Karen’s cheeks bugled a little as she frowned. The frown slowly turned into a scowl as her temper started to build. Karen was one of the softest McCormick’s but she still had a nasty temper like their mom.

“You don’t want a job and I’m here offering to get one for you and you’re telling me no?” She burst, “What do you expect us to do?”

Kenny frowned.

“What do you think is gonna happen if I get a job, huh? If one of us doesn’t get one we’re all gonna die Kenny. We’ll die!”

She couldn’t bring herself to react, stewing in silence.

Karen continued, “Like, fine, whatever Kenny. Don’t be responsible. Be a free spirit and do nothing while we all suffer. Mom’s too fucked up right now to find work. Dad’s a deadweight who will never get off the damn gutter. Kevin. God, he’s nowhere to be seen these days? I don’t know what he’s even doing! It’s just you and me to take care of this family and if you don’t want to do it, at least don’t stop me from!”

Kenny sighed softly, trying to quell her own temper. “Look Karen, it’s not our responsibility to take care of our parents--”

“I don’t care Ken!” She shot immediately, standing up. Her phone clattered to the floor, barely cushioned by the compacted, old carpet. “I don’t want them to die! I don’t want to be taken away! I’ll do anything to stay with here, even if it’s super shitty. I’ll be mom since you don’t wanna help so fucking badly.”

“Hey!” Kenny shot back immediately, feeling hurt. She stood up as well, looking at the younger one with a purse to her lips. “I never said I didn’t want to help! I just don’t want to be the parent in this fucking family. We’re teenagers, Karen, it’s not our job! Not our job to be parents to our parents. I don’t wanna be their fucking mom! I don’t wanna be your fucking mom! I wanna be your sister, I wanna be a normal fucking kid!”

“What have you done that’s been so motherly Ken! Huh?”

“What are you trying to say Karen? I’ve saved your ass a million times over.”

The door slammed open and both of them froze, staring at it with wide eyes.

Kevin stepped in, a bottle of Jack in his hand. He stopped, looking at his two siblings for a long moment before he swing towards them, body off kilter, and accidently crashed into Kenny.

They fell to the floor, Kenny moaning roughly as Kevin’s full weight landed on her. She pushed him off sharply, feeling the alcohol splash all over her front.

“God, Kevin, where have you been?” She demanded. She took the bottle from him.

He mumbled, too drunk to speak coherently. He instead decided to stand up, taking a harsh swing at Kenny and landing his fist against her jaw.

Kenny fumbled, landing on the ground again. She cursed, holding onto the spot where he had slugged her. “Jesus Christ Kevin, go to fucking bed,”

Karen had backed up, stealing her phone and rushing off to her room.

Kevin mumbled something. God, she had never seen him so blackout drunk before, like he was an entirely different person. He hadn’t been seen in the house for at least a week and now he was back and so entirely out of it that he was trying to pick a fight with her? She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

She tried to pacify him, settling him down by handing the bottle back to him. It was a big one too, probably about four fifths empty, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he had it all to himself too.

He settled after taking a swig before plopping down on the couch. He may have passed out, fallen asleep, or perhaps just played dead, she wasn’t sure, but he had settled fine in only a few moments.

Kenny twisted her mouth one last time before heading to her room, ignoring the man on the couch and ignoring the application still sitting on the side table.

\-----

That Saturday Kenny and Craig met up, doned in their roleplay gear.

She stood out in Craig’s yard, pushing the hair from her wig out of her face, before grinning at him. They both liked to hang out before the day’s session, talk about stuff or get into character before everyone else.

It was something special to her, knowing that there was at least one other person who liked doing that stuff as much as she did. That stuff being live action roleplay, that is. She supposed it was the only thing that really got her excited anymore, the only thing that really made her feel good.

Craig seemed to liven up as well during it too, so contrast compared to his typical demeanor. Feldspar was an entirely different person than Craig, someone who seemed to have some life in him.

They hung out for a bit, spreading out a blanket across the grass and sitting there, tooling their weapons.

Kenny hummed softly as she worked with her arrows, counting them, making sure the suckers at the end of them were properly glued on. She felt something touch her arm and looked, seeing Feldspar’s gloved hand. She looked up at him, eyes growing curious, before she smiled questioningly at him.

“Princess,” he started, voice soft but also still holding that nasally tone. He drew closer, setting aside his wooden dagger, and slid his hand down to her’s.

Kenny gulped, looking deep into his dark eyes. She felt herself grow warm, a little nervous in fact, looking at him so closely. There was intimacy, something she was familiar with, something she could handle. Then there was intimacy with a good friend, something she had also handled in the past. But… This was also Craig, local depressed teen who barely opened up to anyone, drawing closer to her like he was about to ask for a kiss.

She didn’t know how to handle it all, honestly.

Kenny wouldn’t necessarily say n--

“Princess, since we are now together… may I ask for this kiss?”

She sputtered, leaning back suddenly. Speak of the devil.

Craig seemed instantly worried, backing away sharply as well. He turned into himself, letting go of her hand. He didn’t say anything but the moment was allowed to continue for too long.

Kenny leaned back in, outstretching her hand to touch his. She had just been shocked, that was all. She had a feeling he was asking for them to do in character things, probably a fake kiss or one of those fancy European cheek kisses so signify that they were together, something to really cement their status in the roleplay.

Craig seemed to relax a little as she drew closer, getting ready to receive what he was going to give. He leaned in, mouth puckered, and Kenny closed her eyes.

His lips pressed against her’s. It was a sturdy but quick kiss, one that left Kenny feeling a little weird in her stomach.

She hadn’t expected it (though she had pressed into once it had started) but it certainly wasn’t… bad. It wasn’t a bad feeling that was in her stomach, just a little weird. She opened her eyes, looking at him.

He looked at her deeply, eyes sharp and centered on her like she was the only one there. He wrapped a hand around her own hand, squeezing it tight.

Kenny paused, looking from his eyes down to his hand. She tilted her head, looking at him questioningly once again. “Craig…” she started, looking around, suddenly feeling very nervous, “Are we roleplaying right now?”

Craig slipped out of Feldspar immediately, looking at her with a deadpan expression. He let go of her hand, settling back down on the blanket. He crossed his arms, “Of course we are,” he replied, monotone.

Kenny blinked, humming softly in response, “Okay, yea, I thought so…”

The air grew awkward as they looked away from one another. Finally, her phone buzzed and she got up, motioning for him to do the same.

The wedding was about the happen and they had to get to the park.

They slowly slipped out of the awkwardness, picking up their voices from the ground and getting the conversation situated once again.

Kenny wasn’t entirely sure on how to feel but she definitely knew one thing: Craig Tucker was an enigma.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wedding day.

Gloved hands wrung together, eyes flickering amongst the kingdom before her. Kenny sat down besides Kyle, looking from the teenagers around her and then to him.

The High Elf looked at her with worn eyes, smiling weakly in a way to reassure her. He didn’t move to touch her hand, nor did he say anything.

She wondered how much Kyle was in on this; how much of it was Cartman’s plan and how much it was Kyle’s. They hadn’t hung out one-on-one in ages, only really doing it with Stan around. And knowing the shit that had gone down between Kyle and Cartman, she wasn’t entirely sure what could have gotten into Kyle to agree to listen to him. He had mentioned “the drama” but she certainly knew he didn’t know her and Craig’s plans.

Maybe Kyle had some backstabbing plans of his own.

Kenny’s eyes flickered across the group of friends and others before her before catching a glimpse of Craig on the far left. He motioned for her to come to him.

Cartman was still talking and she glanced at Kyle, who seemed unaware.

She stood, motioning to the crowd to be quiet, and she snuck off towards the tent. She tried to avoid Cartman’s vision as well as she could, though she knew he was probably stuck in his own world, tunnel-visioned.

She pushed inside the tent, Craig standing in the far corner.

He stepped up to her, inviting her deeper into the tent. He looked outside, checking to see if anyone had followed her, before turning back towards her.

Kenny blinked, placing her hands on her hips. “Something wrong, Feldspar?” she asked in a small, hushed tone.

He didn’t immediately look her in the eye. He looked up suddenly, stepping up to her. He knelt down before her, reaching to hold her hand.

Her stomach tightened and she squinted at him, unsure of what was going to happen next.

“Princess,” he looked down before looking back up at her, “I’ll always love you,”

Kenny didn’t speak, her stomach squirming. She knew he was roleplaying but there was something so sincere with the way he was saying it. He was a good actor.

“I will always love you too Feldspar,” she replied softly, voice wavering. “What brings this up?”

“I know you will be wed to the High Elf, your wedding is today after all,” Feldspar continued, standing up. He took her other hand, holding them together. He kissed her again, yet another quick and would-be unassuming kiss if she weren’t so unsure.

She went to kiss back but he pulled away instantly, back straight.

Stan stepped into the tent, catching them holding hands. He squinted, looking between the two.

Kenny let go of Craig and stepped back, smiling uneasily. She looked at Craig for support.

The thief was quiet as he looked between the two, mouth drawn into a hard line.

“Don’t…” Kenny started, soft at first before catching her voice, “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Stan stood for a moment, mouth a little open, before he stepped back, placing a hand on his hip. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, really,” she pressed, royal blood starting to soak into her words, “I command you not to tell anyone,”

The ranger balked, easing his shoulders inwards.

She knew he would follow her command, Stan and her were still pretty close.

Sensing that he was still uneasy, Kenny pressed forward, affirming, “It’s not something against Kyle, really. It’s just some fun side roleplay stuff.”

He pushed his hair out of his face, shifting around. She could see his muscles tighten, the way the veins popped up against his skin as he analysed the two. Finally, Stan settled, his body slumping as he relaxed.

“Stan! Is Princess Kenny in there?” They could hear Cartman scream.

He turned away, “I will not say a word Princess,” he spoke before leaving.

She turned to Craig who had a slight smile on his face. Kenny rushed to the entrance of the tent, motioning for Craig to stay, before stepping out and into the sunlight.

Cartman made a noise at her, motioning grandly, “Well look who it is! The Princess has decided to grace us with her presence after so rudely disappearing from her own opening ceremony,”

She smiled at him before walking past, moving up to Kyle. As she took her place by his side, the attention settling back up to them, she could see Craig sneak out of the tent and into the back of the crowd.

He climbed the tree, settling within the branches, and watched them. He glanced behind himself before looking at her.

They made eye contact and she held it, even as her and Kyle turned to face each other.

Her attention swiftly snapped back to the elf leader and they held hands, practically hovering over each other the touch was so light.

She thought back to Craig, how his touch was firm and solid like the stone he was named after. She could practically feel his hands settling deep into hers, overlayed over Kyle’s own soft touch.

“Do you take, Kyle the High Elf Jew--”

Kyle glared at Cartman.

“--as your husband, Princess?”

Kenny looked up at Kyle’s face, looking into his dark green eyes. She blinked.

Suddenly, before she could form a sound in her mouth, a loud “thunk!” sounded off by them and Kenny bounced, looking down at their feet where an arrow was suckered onto the wooden boat they stood upon.

She glanced up sharply, watching as a volley of arrows rained down upon them. She could see, standing on the hillside by the playground, a large group of elves all donned in green and yellow stood, their bows at the ready.

She glanced at the tree Craig was in but he was nowhere to be seen.

Glancing at the arrows strewn about her, she rushed to get her own bow, the other teens following in tow.

Another volley of arrows approached them, several of them landing upon people. The teens laid themselves down, playing dead, and Kenny felt her senses tingle at the sight.

Those were her people! She was supposed to have her people spared! And yet here they were, attacking indiscriminately.

She wanted to follow along with the plans but only if they held their side of the agreement.

The wood elves charged into the playground, lead by a very androgynous looking person with platinum blonde hair. They held up their bow, taking aim at the High Elf, a wild smile plastered across their mud covered face. They shot, the arrow hitting its mark and “killing” Kyle.

She ducked under cover and pulled a dagger out from under her skirts, holding it out just in case.

Kyle would be dead for a couple weekends, a real pain in the ass. Thankfully you could be brought back into games through the use of magic and a lot of bullshitting... and arguing.

She watched as the elves fought, drow versus wood, and watched as the orcs pushed the elves back. Kenny, herself, seemed to be ignored by the fighting, crouched on the sidelines with only a dagger in hand.

Off in the distance she could see the wood elf leader jumping across the jungle gym. They were agile, quick on their feet, and incredibly graceful. They swung off the gym, landing with a gymnast's spring. They shot a few more arrows before darting away.

A real show off.

A sharp pain hit the back of her head and Kenny’s eyes crossed. Her ears burned as she heard glass shatter, the impact on the back of her head sending her face-forward. The princess landed onto the ground, face pressed into the dirt. As things grew dark she could hear two things:

“Shut the fuck up you kids!” -- the local drunk, right after tossing his booze at her.

“Oh my god! They killed Kenny!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenny reminisces.

Respawn, on occasion, was a little picky about when she was allowed to come back. Sometimes she would go back immediately... but sometimes she would be sent straight to Hell, to wait and maybe talk to some of the demons there, before being shot back into humanity.

This time was one of those times.

Kenny sat in hell, fingers interlaced and arms fitted between her legs. She sat looking over a large portion of Hell, watching as the demons and souls went about their business; walking along hellish storefronts, through streets, much like humanity but a little more grim and a lot more red.

She leaned back against a rock, watching them all pass below her, and she thought for a long moment.

She thought about how things had gotten to that point. The sessions, the friends; her parents, their drug and alcohol use… her alcohol use. A lot of things all leading up to the current point, right then in time, right as she was looking over hell and the souls damned to live there.

She thought back to Mysterion, thinking about his role in her life and what impact he had on her and her family. She had tried to be that superhero, use her power for good; use it to help her family. But it didn’t feel right. Not entirely.

Kenny was no hero, she was just a teen. Barely just an adult even. She barely wanted to graduate high school-- terrified her to think of it in fact-- and the idea of her moving past her friends, even if it meant going to a better home, froze her.

She was no hero, she wasn’t even that brave. She was a coward...

Kenny thought back to middle school, back when she had started becoming friends with Craig and the others.

Kenny: “promiscuous” (if you could really call a middle schooler that) and still trying to figure out what the strange feelings she had in regards to gender and presentation. Kenny: not exactly the best at science but skilled with a pen and her words. Kenny: Still hiding behind masks and hoods.

And then there was Craig and his gang. A group of popular kids who handled themselves well enough that people generally had a positive view of them.

That is… except for their make-shift leader.

Craig was… He was a troublemaker who swore a lot, gave the finger even more, and got into the occasional fight.

Kenny laughed. She could remember how they had fought once, right in the middle of the hall, and had to be broken up by two teachers.

It was over something really stupid but what exactly she wasn’t sure. It was probably something to do with people they liked or something like that.

But she could definitely remember the fight, how she was fuming at the time, fists clenched so hard she could feel her knuckles and wrists crack. The hallway seemed dark, darker than usual, and there was already a ring of tweens circling them.

They didn’t speak but she could see Craig was also as pissed off as she was, ready to brawl. He had shifted into a wide set stance, maybe a reflection of that time he learned sumo to fight Tweek? He seemed ready to take whatever Kenny threw at him.

They stood there for a long moment, just staring each other down, before some people in the back of the crowd (perhaps some older students? She wasn’t entirely sure anymore.) started to chant for them to fight.

“Fight, fight, fight!” the crowd had jeered at the two of them, just seventh graders, and Kenny was the first one to take the bait.

She remembered stepping up to him, fist up in the air, and how she had been immediately slammed into the ground.

Craig put all of his weight onto her body and slammed a balled up fist into her side, nearly winding her. His hair was in his face, forehead covered in a light sheen of sweat, while those overcast eyes turned into a full storm.

Kenny knocked him off, wrestling her way on top of him. She punched him in the face before he knocked her off.

They both stood but they quickly grappled at each other, tumbling down to the floor once again.

The teachers were there by now but not before Craig started to form a very real black-eye and one of Kenny’s teeth had been punched out of her mouth.

They had been taken to the nurse and monitored as she checked them, before they were immediately sent back to class with detention later that day.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and watched as two demons argued in an alleyway below her. They were talking about how one had cheated on the other and she would have entertained the idea of demon adultery but found herself much more entertained with the fact that they had left her and Craig that day in the same detention room, alone.

The teacher had been there at the start, looking bored and a little awkward. She had walked out of the room for what Kenny thought would be a short moment but as the time passed, it became abundantly clear that she was not going to be returning.

It wasn’t just them in the room either. As the students softly tinkered with their homework (at first) before slipping out their phones and other devices, Craig and Kenny avoided eye contact.

She texted to Kyle, who had been a little distant lately, before glancing up and looking directly at Craig.

He looked up, clearly recognizing that someone was looking at him, and he set a pair of deadpan eyes back at her. “What?” He asked in a sharp tone, his eyes matching them.

She paused, lips puckered to the side, before pulling her hood down and running a hand through her hair. It was messy and greasy, roots covered in dirt.

“Sorry,” she said after pausing for a long second.

“Sorry,” he parroted back, a slight, questioning inflection under his tone.

Kenny licked at the spot where her tooth was missing, shrugging lightly at him. “Yeah, I mean like,” she rolled her eyes, “sorry for fightin’.”

Craig paused, eyes softening just a smidgen. “Why are you saying sorry?” His voice was low, “You and your group never say sorry,”

She shrugged, “Felt like changing. It was stupid anyway and like, you knocked a tooth out of me so I mean. That’s pretty hardcore, dude,” she shifted in her chair, turning to him and ignoring the rest of the kids in the room.

“You’re pretty cool Tucker,”

He was silent, eyes flickering across her face. Finally he settled and slouched, “You’re okay I guess,” he leaned against his chair, slinging an arm down the side.

“What do you even do for fun anyway?” She prompted suddenly, the thought popping into her head. She knew Craig was a little creative, with his ability to do films and stuff, but she didn’t know anything about him outside of that.

Honestly, getting her tooth knocked out was what got her so interested in him in the first place. She knew Craig liked to fight but… she didn't know, there was something to that punch. Maybe he punched the senses out of her.

He shrugged, “You know, videos, TV…” he gave a second shrug, “Live action roleplaying,”

Kenny’s ears prickled and she laughed, “Like that stuff we used to do as kids?” She sounded incredulous but those were the best times of her life, honestly. She loved the feeling of being Princess Kenny, the freedom and wholeness of it. The plotting was fun, the battling was fun, bonding with family making her costume was actually pretty fun too.

“Yea.” He seemed resistant on explaining further, the air trying to grow awkward, but Kenny wouldn’t allow it.

“I loved doing that stuff as a kid,” she continued, “Do you like… have a group or something?”

Craig seemed suspicious before shaking his head, “No,” his voice came from his nose, nasally like usual, “I roleplay online mostly now,”

Kenny laughed again, “Like? Kinky stuff or..?”

“No,” he pressed, “Like storytelling with a partner,”

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, “Yea, sure thing Tucker,”

“It’s the truth, believe me or not, I don’t care,”

Kenny pulled her hood back up but resisted the urge to pull the strings to close it up. “Alright, alright, fine. Storytelling. What kinda stories?”

“Why do you care?” Craig retaliated, voice starting to edge into hostile territory.

She shrugged, a common theme, before looking back down at her phone. Kyle hadn’t replied. She wasn’t sure if he would today or do it the next. They had been growing distant.

Kenny, reflecting on it now, knew that she was lonely more than anything. Cartman was getting a little out of hand and the group was starting to feel the pressure. Kyle didn’t want to hang out with Cartman, which she knew was completely understandable.

But Kenny, at the time, didn’t hang out with many people besides Cartman and Butters so it was getting harder and harder to see Kyle and Stan at the same time as seeing Cartman and Butters.

It was a mess, if she were honest with herself.

And she wanted to have people to relate with, to talk to and stuff.

After a long pause, Kenny gulped, and shrugged one last time at him, “Because I think that punch to the face rattled my brain up really bad and I kinda wanna hang out sometime?”

Craig was silent. He flipped her off.

The next week he invited her over for a sleepover.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kidnapping and a confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sex happens in this chapter but it isn't explicit.

She was sitting quietly in Kyle's treehouse, gazing out the window and at the tops of the neighboring houses. The plot had called for the men to join up and discuss the upcoming union of the factions and what to do with the immediate threat of the elves from the north.

The drow elves and the humans were outnumbered by the large faction of wood elves from the north, a race that were so in tune with nature that they refused to eat it, dining exclusively on the meat of other sentient creatures.

And, piggybacking on those issues, Kenny had her own as well. The High Elf and her were to be wed, but she did not want it that way. Her lover was the head thief of the human kingdom, Feldspar. They had been meeting in secret behind the Wizard's back for years now, learning about the stars together. But, she supposed, it was never a wedding meant to be to begin with.

He worked better alone, after all.

Bebe and Wendy were downstairs, patrolling the yard. (Mostly, they were leaning up against the side of the house talking about what bullshit it was that they were being excluded because they were girls, amongst other things.)

She heard a soft noise behind her and turned quickly, legitimately startled by the figure that had stepped through the opposite window. Kenny cursed, breaking character, and stepped back, gripping at the window frame.

“Wait!” the figure whispered, a stage whisper, before stepping forward tentatively. “We caught wind through carrier pigeon that the men of your faction are away.”

She waited for him to continue, eyes narrowed.

“And... okay I'm breaking character sorry,” he straightened, tugging his scarf down. It was a light haired boy she had never seen before, probably one of the boys from North Park. He continued, shaking his hair a little, a small twig falling out, “We're bored and thought this would be a good time to kidnap someone and hold them ransom, you guys have been doing so much internal stuff we don’t know what to do. Want to come with me and be kidnapped? Stir up a little excitement? I bet its not very fun just sitting here,”

She laughed, stepping away from the window. “I couldn't have asked for anything more.” she stepped forward and placed her hand on his, “I'll tell the girls downstairs what's up, I'm sure they'll be okay with it.”

Kenny climbed down the ladder and the infiltrator followed her, looking cautious as they approached the female druid and warrior.

Wendy was the first to react, her muscles tightening against the straps that held her armor on. She held up her sword and pointed it at the light-haired duo, ordering the infiltrator to halt.

Kenny raised her hands, asking the two to listen, “Look, we're bored over here and the guys are doing all the playing. The guys in North Park are getting bored too so they suggest they kidnap someone,”

Bebe crossed her arms, “Well they're not kidnapping me,”

“Yeah I think they want me,” she smiled sweetly, “No offense, but I am the princess,”

Wendy lowered her sword and her mouth twisted a little. She placed a hand on her hip, “I'm torn. On one hand, getting out to North Park would be fun! We haven't stormed a house in ages. On the other hand, you know they're going to blame us for letting you get kidnapped.”

“I believe in you Wendy, you know how to deal with Cartman-brand shit. You'll be fine!” Kenny shot back, eager to get up and leave the town for a little bit that weekend and actually do something.

Bebe shrugged, “Seems okay to me,”

Wendy finally agreed after a long moment of seeming unsure, “Yeah... Yeah it should be alright. Be safe Ken,” she reminded.

Kenny shrugged, “When am I not safe?”

The only dark-haired person there gave him a weary look. Just because she wasn't aware of Kenny's immortality didn’t mean she didn’t know about Kenny's habits of getting hurt. She, however, didn't push it any further.

The two of them went back to chatting, very tentative at first.

Kenny turned and waved her kidnapper over, “We better go before the guys get back,”

He nodded and they took off towards the back of the yard where they slipped through a loose board in the fence. They trekked across the yards, weaving in between the houses, before they finally made it to the street where the boy's car was.

\-----

“So...” Kenny batted her eyelashes at the boy in front of her. She had a leg stretched out, her dress pulled up to show off her thigh. “This is the part where you have your way with me, right?”

He stood still, a little startled, before turning towards her. She couldn’t for the life of her remember his name, he was just a guy from North Park, though she thought maybe his name was Greg or something like that.

The guy was a dark-haired boy with a strong jaw that sort of resembled Stan's and eyes that were just as dark as his hair. He had great posture and, before she had interjected, he held an air of superiority. He had a good costume, a master crafted replica of The Master Sword. It didn’t totally fit the theme but they rolled with it, as most of the other players from North Park were a slightly different version of middle earth than theirs was.

His face turned a little red and he continued to stare at her. He sheathed his sword and carefully stepped towards her. “We may have kidnapped you princess but I am no barbarian.”

Kenny placed the back of her hand against her forehead, “Thank goodness you're not one of those types of men. I'm so vulnerable right now,” she shot him a sly look.

He balked, not having anything to say to that.

She lowered her hand, looking disappointed. She pushed her chest forward, giving him her best seductive look. “Look,” she started, slipping out of character, “We're probably going to be here for a while since Cartman and Connelly are probably going to argue for a couple hours about the strategy they want to take to get me back, and then they'll have to fight past the guards downstairs... and I mean, you are hella cute so, if you want, we could get it on and probably finish before they even get here,”

She grinned at him.

Greg or whatever his name was flushed. Finally, after a long moment of him thinking, he pulled his belt off, propping his sword against the bed.

She bounced, eager, and started to undo her corset.

He undid his cape and pulled his shirt off. He wasn’t too well toned but he was considerably attractive. He had an outie belly button too which she found absolutely adorable and made her wonder why they would do that. North Park was a strange place, so she really shouldn’t have been so surprised.

The teen stepped up to her and onto the bed and she immediately pulled in to kiss him, their lips barely hitting. He kissed her back furiously, gripping her sides. It didn’t take long for their tongues to become acquainted with each other.

It was all very fast, an obligatory kiss to get things started.

She pulled away from him, smiling.

"Fuck you are really cute. I can’t believe I’m doing this…"

Her smile went from small and loose to a wide grin.

Things were going by quickly, both teens amped up and excited. She was about to pull down his pants, her teeth dragging across her lower lip, when the boy stopped her.

He fumbled, red faced (though that was nothing new), before he steadied himself with a deep breath.

Finally, he opened his eyes back up and looked down at her, “Can we… Possibly roleplay this part?”

She quirked a brow, “Oh? Like this?” Kenny placed her hands down between her legs, “Please don’t rape me~!” She bayed, giving her best look of fear.

“Yea!” He spouted, excited. He caught himself, face burning, before he added in, “I've heard the rumors princess,”

She looked up at him, feigning fear, “O-Oh?”

“Oh yes, that you’ve… gotten around. Am I wrong?”

Kenny paused, insides growing tight. It was true that she wasn't the most chaste of people outside the game but she had only “been with” one person and that was her true love Feldspar (they hadn't actually done anything either, not in an actual sense. They mostly just hung out when the guys tried to push her out of the game. Craig was always ready to roleplay with anyone and she was often seeking a partner.) Her mouth tightened.

“Of course I haven’t!” she said, a little offended that her character would be played off as a whore, “I never done anything of the sort.” As an afterthought, she winked. Offended or not, she was ready to have sex with this guy and she wanted to roleplay it too, and she was sure as hell going to get it done.

He smiled and dove in.

They enjoyed each other for quite a bit of time before something really perked in her ear. It was the sound of vicious footsteps stomping up stairs.

“We're here for you Princess Kenny!” Cartman yelled, stepping into the bedroom with his staff raised into the air. He took one look at the two, still in the act, before his face contorted and turned a bright red.

“God damn it Kenny!” Cartman bellowed, “Can you not be a slut for two fucking hours!”

Kenny looked at him and smiled crookedly, shrugging. She didn’t respond otherwise as Cartman stormed out of the room, the others in tow.

Craig peered in at them and her stomach dropped like a stone.

She immediately stood up, pushing him aside, and drew her dresses back down, covering herself up. She left Greg, or whatever his name was, and went over to Craig, eyebrows knitted together.

He didn’t say anything to her but he didn’t look upset. She could barely read him, his typical mask was on, the one he wore to school.

“I…” Kenny trailed off, desperately trying to figure out what to say. They weren’t together and she knew that, she knew it was just for the sake of roleplaying that they kissed… but she still worried. She honestly didn’t know what Craig’s intentions were, this whole thing.

Was this his way of trying to tell her that he liked her more than just friends? Craig was a weird kid, a kid who barely spoke to people anymore, and she wondered if this was something that his fritzed out brain thought was the appropriate way to handle those feelings?

She reached for his hand and he gripped onto her’s, firm. Her stomach flipped and she looked up at him quickly, eyes meeting. She knew her teeth over her lips and before she could speak, she could see his mask shift, falling away to present the persona known as Feldspar.

He clasped his other hand over hers and leaned in.

She leaned back a little out of surprise but found herself stunned as he dragged her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. Kenny was frozen in place, eyes wide, and she looked around nervously.

She could see the North Park kid sneaking out, fully dressed. He seemed a little worried but she ignored him.

“Craig,”

"My name is Feldspar,” he reminded, voice in her ear. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it in time Princess. I cannot imagine what terrible things they must have done to you,”

Back into the roleplay once more.

“Are you okay, Princess?”

Her heart drew tight and she hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder. She was a little taller than he was but the hug was nice.

She hadn’t gotten a hug in a long time.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she pulled away, “Let’s get outta here, okay?”

He nodded and they headed out of the house.

\-----

As the two of them walked from North Park back to South Park, Kenny felt herself slipping from the roleplay.

She felt really bad. Typically this sorta stuff didn’t bother her. She was steadfast in her sexual confidence and she wasn’t even really the type for dating to begin with. But there was something about this that really made her feel guilty, like she was betraying him.

He played it off like it was some terrible deed, like she had been roleplaying the whole time. She was sure he knew, he had to…

Had she hurt him doing that?

Did it even matter if it hurt him? She asked herself. After all, he was the one hiding behind roleplay, trying to keep his feelings hidden from her. If he was hurt, he could tell her. If he loved her, he could say it. But no, he was hiding behind Feldspar, acting like his feelings were only in that dimension.

If he had them, he could express them in the real world too.

But that didn’t stop the guilt from manifesting.

It was starting to become dark out as they entered South Park.

She stopped.

Craig paused, slowing, before he too stopped and glanced over at her.

“You’re not mad at me.” She shot, needing to know. The statement was in disbelief, unable to understand what Craig or Feldspar of Racer Zed or whoever he was right now was thinking.

“No,” he seemed surprised, wavering a little, “W--”

She stopped him, raising her hand. “I wanna talk to Craig,”

His mouth twisted before he lowered his head. He stood like that for a long moment before looking back up, face clearly changed in demeanor. “What?”

Kenny teased her lip a little, looking at him. She felt concern but tried to keep it hidden. “What’s going on? You know, with the roleplay and us. Are you doing this for some plot purpose or is there gonna be something more to this? You have to tell me how you’re feeling for me to get it, you know that dude.”

Craig rolled his eyes and she puffed her chest out.

“C’mon! I’m trying to be open, I’m confused. Just be straight with me,”

“My doctor--” he had started, instantly making her heart sink.

Doctor? Was he dying and trying to get everything done before his last days? She couldn’t stand the thought…

“-- said I have depression.”

Kenny paused, her brain momentarily trying to push past the thoughts of a friend’s inevitable death and taking in what he just said. Her immediate thought was that it couldn’t be that bad but she knew better. She had seen him go from leader of his friend group, someone who wasn’t necessarily an extrovert but definitely someone who liked to be around people, to someone who could barely stand to be around his own friends for too long.

And, lately she had noticed, even things that he enjoyed were done in bursts. He was a thief in their LARPing sessions which gave him the excuse to not always be around. Until now she had just assumed he was doing it to appear sneaky, to give off that aura of mystery.

But now… Now she wondered if he was just… not as into it as she thought he was.

Honestly, she didn’t really know a lot about depression… She was trying to think of what it could be and all she could imagine was a lot of crying. But she had barely ever seen Craig cry. In fact, she had never seen him cry before, when she really thought hard about it.

Craig turned away, refusing to face her. “If you really need to know Kenny,”

She blinked at him.

“I want to die basically every day.”

A gulp was all Kenny could do to reply.

“That’s why I don’t fucking say how I feel, okay?” He snapped, shoving his hands under his armpits. He still didn’t look at her.

“I don’t feel anything else,” he started walking again, leaving her behind.

Kenny started up as well, jogging to catch up with him. She followed behind, quiet.

She watched as they stepped through town, following the path along to Craig’s place.

As they neared the little house she reached, grasping on his shoulder.

“Hey,”

He stopped, still facing away from her.

“I’m sorry.”

He sighed, lowering his head before slowly turning towards her. He sighed a second time, looking up. They made eye-contact.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, “That’s not something I should burden you with,”

“No, no, it’s okay?” She replied quickly, “It’s not a burden at all?”

He looked at her incredulously.

“I’m serious Craig. I’m being super serious. If you feel bad just… I dunno dude, just. Like. Talk to me?”

Craig paused. Finally, he exhaled from his nose and nodded. “Alright,”

“Good,” she said with a smile.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A(nother) party.

Her phone blipped and she glanced down at it, looking at the message that was flashing on the front of her phone.

Craig.

Her heart felt heavy in her chest as she looked at it, feeling the weight of the phone in her palm become heavier and heavier.

“There’s a party up in North Park that we were invited to. If you want to go.” The text read. Craig was a lot more formal in his texting than she was.

A party in the town above theirs was an interesting development, she thought. Kenny rolled out of bed and looked out her window, out at the setting sun. She could see the mangled train tracks from her window, twisted and deformed from weather and other abuses.

“are you going?” She replied.

She did want to go, and typically she would go alone… but this was North Park and she wasn’t exactly North Park material.

They were a strange group of people, the North Parkers, but they were also pretty damn wealthy too. Much wealthier than South Park.

It took Craig a hot minute to reply but when he did, all he sent her was a simple “Yes.”

“sure, ill go then” she sent back and got ready.

When going to a North Park party you had to be prepared. They didn’t have the strange occurrences like South Park did but they had strange customs, things that didn’t really add up in her South Park mind.

But she had gone up there a couple times before and had an inkling of what to look out for.

So she put on a clean top, tried to find a pair of jeans that weren’t caked in mud, and set out to meet up with the other teen.

\-----

It was around ten at night when they both had finally made it to the party. It was roaring, the music so loud she could feel the bass through the sidewalk outside. She could feel it reverberate through her bones, rattling her skull in a way that was almost soothing. As she slipped into her element, walking inside and immediately hitting it off with the other kids there, she could see from the corner of her eye: Craig.

He filtered through the party without saying a word, drifting behind her. He stayed close, just not… too close.

She felt a little bad. Craig wasn’t normally one for parties, she and the others in South Park knew that… but North Park, they were new people. New faces and new connections to make.

She felt even worse knowing that her and Craig were already on thin ice. She hadn’t meant to force him to tell him what was going on… she just thought he had a crush or something but… depression? It felt so heavy to her, weighing down deep into her soul.

She could only imagine what it was like for him. If the knowledge made her feel this bad, who knew how he was feeling.

Suicidal, he had implied. Was he suicidal now? Just coming to the party because the North Park kids wanted them to?

In fact, who even invited them to begin with? Was it the LARPing group?

She glanced around, looking for any familiar faces.

It was hard, she hadn’t been focusing on faces for too long. And, additionally, many of them had face paint or mud covering their features, making their faces appear more monstrous or camouflaged.

However, there was one face that appeared in her mind clear as a rung bell.

The wood elves’ leader with their platinum blonde hair styled back, sharp plucked eyebrows, and sparkling smile.

She spotted them instantly, her eyes growing wide as she looked at them.

Their eyes met and the person motioned for her to come over, smiling wide at her.

“Hey!” They greeted, clasping her shoulder and leaning forward, kissing both her cheeks.

“Hey,” she greeted back, a little taken aback by the greeting. She gripped their shoulder and kissed their left cheek, trying in some vain attempt to appear just as cultured and “in” as they were.

“Glad you and Feldspar could make it,” they smiled a little less, almost a sneer she noticed, looking at Craig.

“Glad to be here,” she responded for him, glancing over to see Craig shrinking into himself.

He excused himself, wandering off to the kitchen to grab them some drinks.

“I never caught your name,” she mentioned, looping an arm around her own waist. It definitely wasn’t chilly inside the house but she was feeling a slight chill creep up her spine without Craig by her side.

“I’m Robin,” they replied, “Or Rialas if you’re looking to roleplay,”

She hummed softly, laughing a little as she looked at them. They were handsome, with a smooth face and incredibly defined eyebrows. She wondered if they plucked.

“I’m Kenny, nice to formally meet you,” she knelt, going to kiss their hand.

Robin laughed, pulling away before she could. “My, my, Princess, aren’t you forgetting our roles?”

She stood and looked at them, “Pretty sure you outrank me, King of the Wood Elves,”

“Tsk,” they clicked their tongue, “King isn’t quite the title for me,”

“Hmm?” she mentioned, leaning in close.

They wrapped their hands around hers, so firm and tight that she almost felt a sort of spark ignited between them. Almost.

“I’m not very fond of those sorts of titles, Overlord seems so much better,” they blew a raspberry at her and laughed in her face, letting go.

She laughed it off, feeling her gut shiver. North Park kids could be strange but she wasn’t sure what to make of the person before her. They were a little off in a way she couldn’t figure out.

“Hey, you North Park folks have any good drinks?”

“Yea,” they laughed again, leading her into the kitchen, “Of course we do,”

Craig wasn’t anywhere to be seen but Kenny felt her worry start to fade as the cabinet was opened and a whole storage of wine was shown off.

The kids in the kitchen ooed and awed at it before Robin popped open of the bottles open and started to share it with the kids around them.

Kenny was handed a glass but she declined it, instead waiting for the wine to be divvied before taking the bottle for herself. She took a large swig from it, feeling the burn of the alcohol hit the back of her mouth. She drank it down while the other teens cheered and felt her world spin.

\-----

Half a bottle of wine, several shots of a flavored vodka she forgot the name of, and a single glass of brandy that she knew was more expensive than her life, Kenny was past the point of happily drunk and way deep into “Help the floor won’t stop spinning and I’m laughing so hard I might vomit.”

She hung off Robin, laughing with them. They had a strange laugh, one that felt like they were laughing at you more than they were laughing with you. The world was unsettled, things tilted on their side.

Kenny could barely see straight but the happiness in her heart felt real. All she could think in her head was how happy she was, how nice it was to be in such an inebriated state. Everything was outside her head now, all the feelings she had bottled inside making their way out of her.

She vented to Robin, all her emotions flowing outside of her. She could barely speak straight, her words jumbling together.

“And I think Craig might be in love with me?” She spouted, words strung together.

Robin laughed at her face, loud and out of control. They took a sip of beer out of their cup and pushed her a little, teasingly. “What makes you think he’d fall in love with a girl like you?”

“Because…” She sighed loudly, lolling her head to the side, “Because we’ve kissed and held hands?”

“Yea, and you said you had sex with one of the guys at this party not too long ago,” Robin replied.

“That’s different,” she tried to draw her eyes into a serious squint but ended up getting distracted. She looked at them, sighing.

“Well, here. Listen Princess,” a sneer, a real one this time. “I know how we can figure this out, okay?”

Before she could speak, Robin gently pushed her aside and stepped into the crowd. They carefully got up on the table, their stance a little sloppier than what seemed to be their usual, and they stood, gathering everyone’s attention.

“Alright, alright!” they shouted over the crowd and the music, “Has anyone seen the South Park dude?”

The group hushed while everyone looked around. Finally, someone from the kitchen shouted that they could see him sitting in the tree in the back yard.

After a lot of hassle and attempting to get a household of drunk teens to work together, Robin instructed and had them bring Craig inside for a roaring game of Truth or Dare.

As they all attempted to sit down, many of the teens separating to form their own niche circles.

Kenny could barely see Craig in the blur of people but before she knew it, they were all seated down on the floor in a large circle. She looked around, thankful things were starting to settle before she vomited, and saw Craig sitting across from her with a deadpan expression. She was tempted to text him to see if he was okay but Robin interrupted her thoughts, clapping their hands together to draw everyone’s attention.

In the middle of the circle was a large brown bottle. She couldn’t read the label but she could recognize the silver stag head on the front as the bottle of brandy she had earlier, now totally empty.

“Rules are simple,” they started, looking sly at the group of drunk participants, “If the bottle lands on you, you get asked ‘truth or dare’ by the person who was chosen last time. I’ll start,”

They spun the bottle, watching it spin with a gleeful tint to their dark eyes. They looked gleeful up at the girl it landed on and the game commenced.

As they students dared and truthed each other, Kenny focused her eyes on Craig. He looked away from her, down at his hands in his lap.

She was starting to feel guilt creep into her stomach. Whilst drinking, she had totally forgotten about him, leaving him to the wayside as she got hammered and hung out with the North Park kids. She hadn’t even tried to invite him to join, assuming he was fine on his own in this sea of strangers.

But he was in the backyard, away from the party like he typically was. He wasn’t the party type, after all… she wasn’t sure what he wanted by coming here.

The bottle landed on Craig and Robin giggled to themselves with a strange sense of elation.

“Feldspar,” they addressed him, “Truth or Dare?”

Craig hesitated, looking from them to her, then back at them. He sighed, tucking his hands under his armpits. “Uh, truth,”

They clasped their hands together and looked at Kenny with a shine in their eyes. The alcohol they had consumed together didn’t seem to affect Robin like they had affected Kenny, who was still struggling to see straight through this whole mess.

“Okay…” they trailed off, voice becoming mysteriously as they hummed and ha’ed. “Okay, I got one. Is it true that…” they winked at Kenny, “That you love the Princess?”

The group of teens all giggled and laughed as they all turned to him, watching as Craig’s deadpan expression stayed solid.

He shrugged, half at them and half at Kenny, who was holding solid eye contact with him.

She could barely breath, air held in tight as she waited for an answer.

“Yea,” he replied.

Kenny let out of long breath before breaking eye contact, looking down at her mangled shoes. Next to her she could feel someone patting her back as the group hooped and hawed.

Craig got leaned forward and spun, watching as it landed on the guy sitting beside her.

“Truth or Dare?” he asked, voice never wavering past a monotone.

“Dare!” he boasted.

“I dare you to kiss Princess Kenny,”

Robin looked at the group with shock, eyes held wide. They snapped their eyes to Kenny and the group followed.

Kenny flushed, looking up at Craig with questioning eyes. “What?”

“Didn’t you just say you loved her?” Robin reinforced, scratching their forehead nervously.

Craig shrugged, looking between everyone and then back at her. “Are you going to take the dare or what?”

The guy looked between the two South Park teens, visibly nervous, before he shook his head. He leaned in towards her, angling his head a little.

Kenny watched him, his lips puckered towards her, and her thoughts raced as quickly as they could as they kissed one another.

What was Craig doing? Was this his way of showing how hurt he was to find her having sex with someone? Was this a weird way at getting revenge? To have her kiss someone on his command?

They parted quickly, the group going from having fun to becoming incredibly awkward. The guy spun the bottle but no one seemed interested in playing anymore.

Kenny looked at Craig who looked back at her. They held eyes as the group dispersed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenny talks to some people and the wood elves come back for more.

They had left the party at different times, Kenny purposefully avoiding Craig. She stuck close to Robin who seemed to be trying to reel the party back in.

Tweek came and picked Craig up and Kenny was given a ride home from one of the other patrons who felt bad for her.

It was humiliating. What was Craig’s angle?

As she sobered, the more it confused her.

They had just talked about expressing how he felt to her and yet there he was, doing shit like that. It was a total mixed signal, she had no idea what he was doing.

She tried looking at it from other angles. Maybe he was trying to show how little he cared that she had a tendency to be rather loose with her relationships and that he still liked her despite it?

But then why the look… why act that way and look at her with such grave eyes. Like it was a death sentence…

She sighed, flopped out on her bed.

The door opened and Karen stepped in, silent. She had a hand on her hip and the other held tight onto her phone.

Kenny looked up at her, pursing her lips a little.

“Hey,” she greeted. They had made up quickly after the fight and while Kenny was still avoiding the application to Panera, she couldn’t stay mad at her baby sister for too long.

She had a point and she wasn’t going to get in the way of what she wanted to do, even if it made her uncomfortable.

Karen sat down on her bed, leaning against the creaky headboard.

“Hey,” she responded, looking down at her phone. She pushed it between her legs and looked at Kenny seriously.

“What’s up?” she sat up.

“You gotta stop messing with Craig, Ken,” she started.

“What?” she snapped, looking at her with arched brows. She could say the same about him messing with her!

“Ruby told me what’s going on between you two and you gotta stop messing with him okay?”

“Tell him that, not me! I’m not the one who keeps making romantic gestures and then making me kiss someone else!”

“Look,” she sighed, “The whole school knows about you and the North Park dude,”

Kenny puffed her cheeks, “Yea! So what?”

“Why’d you sleep with him if you knew Craig liked you?” The question was posed seriously, genuinely, like Karen was trying to keep the forum open.

She sighed, rolling her eyes back as she flopped over.

“C’mon Kenny…”

She slung an arm across her eyes. “Look, it’s complicated Karen…”

“I think I understand more than you think I do.”

“I don’t really even know if he likes me! He keeps separating real life from roleplay which is fine but then he keeps doing stuff in roleplay that feels like an excuse to do stuff with me! Like, he’s got me in this big plan and it’s starting to feel like just an excuse to kiss me and stuff?” Her mouth twisted.

“And you don’t like it,”

“No.” she cut in.

“Then why’d you sleep with that dude?”

Kenny was quiet for a long moment, looking at her hands. Why had she slept with that guy. It had seemed fine at the time. He was handsome and she wasn’t in a relationship… so why did it make her feel so shitty when she had seen Craig… and why were people making such a big deal about it?

They weren’t a couple.

“We’re not together Karen, okay?” Kenny tried to snap but the fight wasn’t in her.

“Look,” Karen stood, “I’m not saying what you did was wrong. But you gotta think about other people’s feelings sometimes, okay?”

“Feelings?” She parroted.

“Ya, feelings. Like, if he’s being so affectionate, maybe you should take that as the sign it is. Think: do you love him?” she huffed, “Ruby told me Craig is way more depressed than he usually is and she thinks it’s your fault. So maybe grow up and stop running from your feelings.” She went to leave.

Kenny didn’t stop her.

\-----

“I just,” she huffed in frustration, “Like, grow up and stop running from your feelings? I don’t run from my feelings,”

Stan shrugged, scratching his head.

“I mean… I dunno, dude, Craig’s the one giving me weird signals and they’re trying to tell me that it’s my fault or something.”

“You know how I stand on this Kenny,” Stan mentioned. He looked at her, shrugging for a second time. “I don’t think you deserve this bullshit but also Craig’s not the best at expressing himself, you know that.”

She hummed a little in response and shifted her legs to the other side. They were sitting in Stan’s house on the couch, watching an old rerun of Terrance and Phillip. The show had been concluded for a year or two now but that didn’t stop them from enjoying the old episodes.

That was certainly a true thought though; Craig was a little stunted into the emotion category and she wondered how much that was within his nature and how much it was the sadness in him repressing everything else.

“I asked him to be more open with me and instead he dares another guy to kiss me right after saying he liked me, what’s up with that?”

Stan sighed, turning the television’s volume down. He looked over at her, blue eyes centered on her face. “I can’t speak for him,” Stan sighed, “But maybe try talking to him again?”

“Hm,” she picked some chips up from the bag and stuffed them into her mouth, “... I’ll try,” she muffled.

Stan glanced down at his phone, looking over at her immediately.

“What?”

“It’s Cartman, he’s telling me to go to his place,”

“Why?” She chomped down on the chips, rubbing her mouth to clear the crumbs.

“He’s saying we gotta go to LARP,”

“Huh? This early?” She quirked her head.

“Yea, he didn’t specify but he says it’s urgent.”

“We haven’t even brought Kyle back,”

“We don’t have to go yet if you don’t want to.” Stan reached forward and grabbed some chips as well, eating them casually.

She thought about it. Going would be pretty damn fun, even if Cartman was a total ass when it came to being the game master. But that also meant seeing Craig and she wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to see him just yet.

But… she’d be damned if she had her favorite thing ruined just because of some tension.

“Naw, I wanna go.”

“Cool, lemme get dressed and we can stop by your place before going,”

\-----

As they drove to Cartman’s place, her mind went back to Craig. She wondered how much he really cared.

Had she hurt him? She had entertained the idea before but she was really trying to think about it now, think about how it could have affected him.

She wasn’t the type to take that stuff too seriously; if she were to date seriously, that is. But she tried to put herself in the shoes of someone who did take it seriously, who had feelings that could be hurt by that sorta stuff.

She thought about how casual Craig tried to act but how totally oblivious she was to his depression.

He had a lot of hurt in him and, assuming she had hurt him too, she had just added more to it.

She sighed, glancing over at Stan.

He looked at her briefly before looking back at the road.

They pulled up to Cartman’s house and stepped out, looking at the other cars and bikes by the big green house. As they stepped into the back yard, they could both see Cartman, surrounded by elves, humans, and orcs alike, waving his hands generously.

“--And they tweeted right at me! Right at me! ‘We’re coming for you next.’”

The group all started to make sounds, curious.

Cartman waved an arm, sweeping across the crowd. He stepped down from his podium and stood amongst the other teens. He threw his cloak off and raised his arms into the air.

“They’re coming, we must prepare to fight!”

The group cheered and many of them set to prepare their weapons.

Kenny pushed through the crowd and towards Tweek, who stood off to the side with Doug and Bebe. He was shaking, one part because of his typical shakiness and one part because of the excitement of the upcoming battle. Maybe also a little bit because it was cold out too.

“Hey,” she approached. She could see Token walking over from the corner of her eye.

“H-Hey!” Tweek greeted, ticking his head to the side quickly.

“Have you seen Craig today?” She tried to look at the trees, to see if he were in his usual spots, but she didn’t see him.

“I saw him,” Tweek ticked again, “I saw him maybe an hour ago?”

“Do you think he’ll--” her eyes locked onto him, walking in through the back yard gate. She immediately cut herself off and made a beeline towards him, leaving behind the others.

Kenny weaved through the crowd, eyes connected with Craig’s. She was on a mission.

He didn’t move, waiting for her. When she finally made it to him, he knelt, taking her hand and greeting her with a simple, “Princess,”

She knelt down too, wrapping her arms around him, pulling the rogue into a huge. “I’m sorry,”

He didn’t move for a long moment before planting a hand on her shoulder and pushing her away gently, “Let’s go somewhere private, Princess,”

She nodded and they headed inside, into the kitchen.

Kenny leaned against the counter, hands wrung together. “Again, Craig,”

He raised a hand. “It’s okay,”

“I didn’t really…” She swallowed hard.

“I said it was okay,” he placed a hand on her shoulder. Despite his words, he didn’t sound angry or frustrated. Just typical old Craig, monotone maybe but more understanding than usual.

She watched him, scratching her brow a little. They stood there for a long moment before Stan knocked on the glass of the sliding glass door and motioned for them to come outside.

Kenny stepped out first, shocked by the chaos that was starting. Teens were running around, spreading into the neighboring yards.

Arrows rained down upon them and she ducked, watching as the elves came from the North.

“Orcs!” She screamed, alerting all of the green-faced teens. “Assemble!”

They drew close, grouping up around her. As the people fought behind them, Princess Kenny leaned forward, gathering her kin inwards as well, and whispered to them, “Don’t tell the elves or the humans,” she glanced at Craig who was at the back of the group, “But I’ve made a deal with the wood elves. They’re going to help us overthrow the Drow Elves and the humans at Kupa Keep. Then, we’ll be the ones in charge,”

The group hollered.

She pressed on, “So here’s the plan, my kin. We’re going to pretend to fight the Wood Elves but in actuality we’re going to slowly chip off the backline fighters, the archers and the spellcasters. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Princess!”

She smiled and looked at Craig, who was making his way off.

“Let’s go!”

They split and she stayed in the back, her bow out, and watched as her orcs did their work. Many of them weren’t as sneaky as she hoped they’d be but… they were doing it. They were really going to do this.

She spotted Craig up in the treehouse who motioned for her to join him.

Kenny shot an arrow, hitting a human next to Cartman square in the back, before rushing off and climbing up to join Craig.

“Hey,” she greeted, slipping out of character.

Craig was still poised, a bag in his hand. He watched the fighting, the wood elves creeping into Cartman’s backyard until they were fighting one-on-one.

She saw Robin in the crowd, rushing around. They had a golden circlet on their head and they spotted her as well, smiling as they swiped a dagger at Cartman.

Cartman looked up as well, dodging the elf, and he scowled at her. He turned, farting at the elf leader who stopped immediately and stumbled back, shocked by Cartman’s “spell.”

They knelt down, gagging.

Cartman waved his staff into the air and cracked it down on Robin’s back, knocking them out of the fight.

This didn’t stop the others but it did make them pause for a moment, the whole group quiet.

“Kenny!” Cartman screamed, pointing his staff at them.

She gulped, watching as he climbed, preparing her dagger.


	9. Chapter 9

Kenny and Craig had their backs against a wall of haphazard materials, both of them in a fighting stance.

“You can’t do this!” Cartman whined, stamping his feet on the ground so hard it shook the tree house. “We didn’t plan for you to betray the humans! You can’t just do stuff without letting the game master know ahead of time! And guess who the fucking game master is? **It’s me**!”

Cartman was fuming, his face all red.

Kenny felt the cogs in her head turn, thinking about the best way to calm the bigger one down. There was no fun in planning too far ahead of time, she thought of saying. That would only make Cartman angrier. He was spoiled and had always gotten things his way and when something didn’t follow his master plan he did, well, this.

He threw a tantrum. Full blown, arms waving in the air, face red, feet stomping down, high voices tantrum.

Cartman was practically shooting steam from his ears and before Kenny could speak he piped in again, “You’re both traitors!! Again! Can’t you two just pick a side and stick there? At least Clyde stayed with the elves this time!!”

“You’re boring,” Craig said abruptly, harsh.

Cartman sputtered, “Sh-Shut up! You guys are the boring ones! I’m not boring!!”

“No, you’re boring. You’re predictable Cartman,” Craig stayed monotone, dark eyes drilling deep into Cartman’s face. “This entire fight with the wood elves was obviously going to end with the humans being the victors. You were going to pull us back and let the drow elves finish the fight, and, with their numbers down, you’d swipe in and make the humans the ruling race. And here you are criticising us for backstabbing you when all you're doing is backstabbing Kyle and the others.”

The brown-haired teen ground his teeth, visibly enraged. His hands were curled tight into fists and they hung taunt by his sides, energy storing within them, waiting for the moment to strike.

“Your plots are boring and you give us no points or allow us to progress, you just want to keep your title as the master. You bore me Cartman, you really do.”

Kenny stepped in front of Craig, giving him a warning look. “Stop,” she said but it was more directed at Cartman than it was Craig. She didn’t have the heart to scold Craig but there had to be a point to end this before Cartman blew a gasket. She knew what sort of shit Cartman had done. They shared a body at one point in fact.

She knew what he was capable of when he felt slighted. He was a fighter not a runner and she knew that he would get back at Craig if he said anything more.

“Don't tell me what to do Kenny!” he shouted, “Go on Craig, fucking what else do you want to say to me?” his arms started to quake and she could see the outline of muscles. That training at the North Park community college was paying off. Perhaps in the worst of ways.

“That’s all I have to say,” Craig didn't move.

She turned to face him. That was a fatal mistake.

Before she knew what was going on, Cartman gave her a rough push, shouting “Fuck you!” to them and the duo crashed into the side of the treehouse. The siding broke and they plummeted to the ground below.

They landed with a thick thud and the fighting that had been happening in the background stopped.

Something sharp pressed through her stomach and she looked down at Craig, who was under her, and fear chilled her system. She was impaled in the stomach, she couldn't feel her legs. She assumed the worst, that the stray piece of tree house had gone through her spine but… Craig was impaled as well.

She placed her hands on each side of his head, panic running through her blood, coursing so hard she could feel it release out of her wound. Kenny lifted herself up and off of him, forcing herself off the debri and onto her side.

She would bleed to death at this rate but Craig still had a chance.

“Oh my god!” Stan yelled and rushed over towards them. He hesitated before kneeling down, looking between the two with fear in his eyes.

“Don't… Don't move him.” She warned. “C-Call 911, they’ll know how to save him. Just… don't let h-him bleed out like me,”

“Kenny! We’ll save you too dont- dont worry about it pal,” Stan tried to comfort her but she was starting to fade.

She went quietly, eyes growing too heavy to stay open. She stared at the still form of her… whatever he was to her. An interest, a partner in crime, whatever he was, he was important and he…

He needed to survive. For her sake.

And then, she woke up in her bed.  
  


\-----

  
Time went by rather slowly. She fell into a routine, going to school, going to the hospital, staying there for as long as she could, then heading home to lay in bed with her eyes open all night.

She had applied to Panera Bread finally but it was taking forever to hear back from them.

Craig was making it, she could see it with each passing day, but it still made her incredibly nervous to watch him, so heavily injured trying to recover in Hell's Pass Hospital.

She had died there so many times already that she had very little faith in their abilities but… Craig was pulling through. His desire to live, something she knew he had been faltering with lately, was keeping him alive and she thanked god every day that he was trying to stick through with it.

The piece of metal they had both been impaled with had gone through her spine but had gone through Craig’s side instead. It was a miracle that it hadn’t gone through anything vital. A length of intestines was injured but not enough to be fatal.

But he still had a long way to go to recover.

All of it just reminded her of how fragile life really was. It was easy to forget when you died constantly and came back just as much. But when your friend is lying in front of you, still trying to recover… it was sobering.

She felt uneasy all of a sudden, looking away from Craig who was awake and eating, and looked down at her phone. On it was a picture of her as Princess Kenny and Craig as Feldspar. They were side-by-side and it was angled up because she was taking it with a selfie stick she found in Shelley’s room.

They had a lot of fun together… She thought about their kiss, how unsure she felt at the time, but then how sure she felt when they held hands and looked at the stars together. At the time she had brushed aside all of that because it had always been her policy not to do stuff with close friends, and extra against her policy to do long term stuff… but she wasn’t sure.

Watching Craig go from sleeping all day, to slowly getting the energy to wake up, to eventually getting into physical rehab… being there for him along the way. It felt right in a lot of ways.

She didn’t feel obligated to stay, he made that perfectly clear the first day he actually saw her there, but she did want to stay. She wanted to be there for him because in a way, she did love him a lot, even if she wasn’t entirely sure in what regard that love was set.

It was fun to be with him, there was a lot of freedom with Craig, the ability to talk and have someone listen. He was someone who didn’t open up to a lot of people but when you finally got inside his head it was a marvel. He had some incredible thoughts when he had the chance to get them out and they delighted her.

Kenny shrunk into herself, feeling rather stupid. She supposed the entire time she had been feeling a bit of something for him. A small spark that she had refused to grow despite wanting to.

Grow up and face your feelings…

And, in a way, Craig was the one who had been trying to get her to grow the flame from the start. He was the one who doodled the little picture, the one to kiss her first. And yet she was the one unsure, not entirely ready for it.

No wonder he had acted that way at the party.

But maybe she was ready now.

Kenny looked up, catching his attention.

He put down his pudding cup, one she didn’t dare ask for a portion of because it was his and the guy needed as many treats as he could get, honestly, and then he tilted his head to the side. His bangs slid past his eyes, still as dark and as blue as they were the first time she had looked into them.

“I love you,” she fumbled out, the words spilling from her mouth like a warm broth.

“I love you too, Princess,” he replied immediately, his voice trained into his Feldspar voice.

She hummed softly, feeling her stomach bubble. She looked at him seriously, eyes drawn tightly onto his face. She stepped closer to his side and placed a hand on his, looking into him deeply, “No, Craig,”

He looked at her confused, squinting.

“I love you. Like…. Kenny McCormick to Craig Tucker. I don’t mean the roleplay us, I mean like. The real me towards the real you.”

His eyes blinked away, looking down at his tray.

A long moment sat between them and right as she was about to pull her hand back, Craig gave it a tight squeeze. He looked up at her and smiled, a small smile that showed off his teeth and crinkled his eyes.

“I love you too,”

She flipped him off and he flipped her off back and they laughed, weak at first before growing with life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
